A Reaper's Game
by Storm VII
Summary: CHECK MY PROFILE PAGE FOR REBOOTED STORY
1. Prologue: The Reaper's Arrival

**Disclaimer: I don't own BlazBlue or Sword Art Online**

 **Author's Note: Hey guys, just a few things before I get started. If you've read the summary you probably have a good idea what's going to happen, if not here's a small explanation.**

 **Ragna the Bloodedge from the fighting series BlazBlue is in SAO's Aincrad, specifically he'll be in Kirito's place as the main protagonist. (I'll admit I don't exactly like the guy, but this is NOT a hate story) Ragna will seem somewhat nerfed at first early on, but this will be explained. Ragna will also be the only outside character in this story.**

 **With no further interruptions, enjoy!**

 _A Reaper's Game_

 _Prologue: The Reaper's Arrival_

 _'My head…'_ Ragna groaned as he felt himself lying on the soft grassy ground. _'What in the seven hells just happened?_ ' He slowly opened his eyes and saw the blue sky. ' _The last thing I remember is…'_ Images flashed through his mind, including one of him impaling someone who he'd once been close to. _'Right, I just finished killing the Imperator and then she… what did she do? I remember this bright flash of light and the rest is blank.'_

Ragna made his way up and observed his surroundings he was in the middle of a large grassy field. There was a town a small ways to his right and a forest further to his left, but one of the most noticeable features was giant pillar in the distance that seemed to be reaching towards the sky.

"Well, I'm not in Kagutsuchi anymore," Ragna said aloud to himself with a dark chuckle. It then occurred to the Reaper that he was able to use his right arm and eye. "Is there Seither here or something? I wouldn't be able to move otherwise."

Ragna then noticed his sword, _Blood-Scythe_ on the ground beside him. He picked up the weapon with ease and twirled it around in his hand a few times before setting the sword on his back. With no other places in mind he then decided to head out to the town, maybe ask around for his bearings if he could.

"I haven't seen anyone yet…" Ragna thought as he made it closer to the town. That was before he noticed something approaching him. It appeared to be some form of a feral boar. The boar dug its hooves into the ground before sprinting at Ragna full force. _'The hell?'_ Ragna thought as he dodged to the side. He then noticed the red bar above the boar. _'Wait…'_

The boar skidded to a halt and charged again for a second attack. This time Ragna slammed his fist into the boar head as hard as he could. The result was the boar giving a squeal of pain as it was forced back, the red bar above it depleting slightly.

"You've got to be kidding me, that would have killed most people," Ragna groaned as he took his sword out and impaled it into the boar as it tried a third charge at the Reaper. The red bar was completely depleted and the boar exploded into something that resembled glass shards. To seal his fate a strange message appeared in front of him.

 **Result**

 **Exp 24**

 **Col 30**

 **Items 2**

"Great," Ragna sighed to himself. "I have absolutely no idea what's going on right now. Hopefully there's someone in town that can explain this damn hell hole that I'm in."

As Ragna started getting closer to the town he noticed that there were only a few people at the entrance, touching a weird screen in front of them that looked similar to the one that he'd seen after he beat the boar. He then observed a player make a motion with his hand to open the screen.

Feeling a little curious he tried it out himself, creating a screen in front of him with several options. _'Well crap… this is what I get for never buying an effing laptop,'_ he thought to himself. _'Let's see here… maybe if I try 'equipment.'_ After touching the button on the screen, a sub-screen with his inventory came up. The first item was his sword: **_Blood-Scythe Basic_**. He pushed the button revealing the sword with several statistics linked to it. _'These numbers don't make much sense, but this small section at the bottom says that it has locked abilities, whatever that means. It also says it can be improved by adding different metals. Does that have something to do with the stats?'_

Ragna then went to the next option on the list was his outfit, given the title **_The Red Reaper's Coat Basic_**. Again, this weapon gave Ragna a few statistics, these ones pertaining to defense. It seemed like this could also be improved by adding different materials. _'Hopefully it doesn't change the design, I like my coat the way it is.'_

He went down the list, observing that he managed to have a healing potion and some boar hide, items that he'd gotten from the boar. The last option on the list was different than the others, the text was in red instead of the usual black. **_Azure Grimoire_** _._ Ragna clicked on the option.

 _'Description: An arm of otherworldly origins, this certain piece of equipment allows for unorthodox and arcane fighting styles. This artifact will increase in power along with its wielder._

 _Ability_ _ **Enhanced Battle regeneration Lv1**_ _: When recovering from damage in battle using natural battle regeneration this arm increase the hit points recovered by 5 points.'_

Ragna was unsure what to make of all of this. Keep in mind this guy had constantly been fighting the NOL, so he never exactly had the chance to be able to enjoy himself and play an RPG or anything. With little ideas of what was going on he decided to walk around town, finding it overcrowded with people. Eventually he came across a tavern and decided to stop there. There were several people inside eating and talking with one another. The Reaper took a seat off to the side of the group, not exactly feeling sociable at the moment.

After a few moments a waitress made her way over to him. "Can I get you something?"

 _'Answers, for one thing,'_ Ragna thought to himself, but decided against saying it. "Just some coffee."

"Sure thing, that'll be five coal," she told him. A panel appeared in front of him asking if he'd like to pay five coal in exchange for the mug of coffee. Though a little caught off guard, he decided to accept. "Great, I'll be back in just a few."

As she walked away Ragna opened up his menu again and continued looking through it. Under abilities he saw that he had two techniques. One called **_Power Attack_** _,_ and even his original **_Hell's Fang_** _._ It seemed he'd lost most of his fighting techniques, but he figured he'd work to get them back later… somehow. By the time the serving girl came back to him with his coffee he'd read through most of the basic tutorials from his menu and was starting to get the hang of how to apply stats in the system.

"I still can't believe it," one of the people close by to his table said. "I remember buying the _Nerve gear_ thinking of all of the fun I'd have with it, not being sent into some sadistic death game."

"Two weeks in and you're still complaining about it?" one of his friends asked as Ragna took a sip of his coffee and listened from afar. "Well I guess you have plenty of reason to. You buy the game thinking it'll be the next big thing and then they drop the bomb and tell you that you can't escape and you die in real life if your health hits zero. Even though the system doesn't have us register pain we all got screwed over."

"Yeah, especially when you found out about the girl you were hitting on was actually a guy, that probably hurt!" another one said with a laugh. Ragna fought the urge to roll his eyes, he fought hard. "But seriously, clear all a hundred levels or you get trapped here forever. We haven't even found the first boss room and over a thousand people are already dead!"

"Yeah, well at least there are people working on it, hopefully some of them are beta-testers that know what they're doing," the first one told the others before standing. "Come on, let's see if we can get a quest done and level up by the end of the day."

"Well I'm going to need some coal anyways to get myself some better armor, so what the hell?"

As the group left Ragna attempted to make sense of what he just heard. _'So I'm trapped in some sort of video game. I die here, I die in real… life? But if I don't have that Nerve gear thing, do I not exist in the outside world? In that case, my life is literally tied to the game, so clearing it could mean that I die for real…_ ' Ragna let out a small chuckle. _'Don't tell me I've become shallow enough that I'm afraid for my own life when over thousands of people are at stake?'_

Ragna finished his coffee and left the mug on the table. He exited the restaurant and proceeded to leave town. _'All right, let's see if I get used to this weird combat system,'_ he thought as he came across another boar. " ** _Hell's Fang!_** " he shouted as he lunged forward and slammed his fist into the boar. He also tried to follow-up the attack with a wave of darkness, but for some reason it didn't work. "Like I've never had to deal with this before," he complained as he dodged the boars rush.

Ragna drew his sword and slashed the boar across its body, finishing it off. As the result screen came up the Reaper gave a small grin. "All right then, let's see if I can power through a couple more of these fights and go from there."

*Two hours later*

Ragna had been fighting every boar and wolf he came across. With all of the constant fighting he'd managed to level up three times, but he still hadn't recovered any of his earlier techniques. Currently he was searching for a better challenge so he could get more experience and col at a faster rate. He'd decided to go follow the path out of town in order to head to the next town, hoping to find something stronger.

While Ragna tried to appear carefree he was actually doing most of this fighting in order to avoid the recent memories in his head. He still thought back to killing the Imperator, the time he'd lost Lambda atop Kagutsuchi, and even the Terumi's massacre at the church during his childhood.

 _'I need to learn how to move on,'_ he thought to himself. _'I've always done what I've had to, including now.'_ It was then that he noticed a group of players who were finishing off a large group of wolves and boars. They were dressed as samurai seemed to be somewhat skilled as they were teaming up with each other in order to flank, out maneuver their prey, and using a small ledge for cover.

"Looks like that's all of them," a redhead with a bandana said as he sheathed his katana and looked over the result screen. "Looks like we're getting close to level ten. We should be able to get to eight by the end of the week." He then looked up and saw Ragna off in the distance. "Hmm? I haven't seen him around here before, who's he?"

"Don't know," one of his teammates responded. "Guess he's a solo player."

"One of the few that survived you mean," another one commented. "Most of the thousand we lost were stubborn solo players. But if he's survived this long, maybe he should join us?"

"Worth asking," the leader admitted before waving his hand above his head. "Hey buddy! Over here!"

Ragna was a bit confused on what they wanted with him, but he eventually decided to see what they wanted. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, just wanted to know why you've decided to travel alone. You stand more of a chance in this world if you find a good team to survive with."

"No offense, but I'm not exactly a people person," Ragna told them. "I'm better off figuring this stuff out on my own." _'Plus, I'm not really sure how I feel about them knowing about my BlazBlue…'_

"Aw… C'mon," the redhead said looking a little deflated. "Look, I'm not saying that you have to join up with us or anything, but solo playing in this deathtrap is suicidal."

"I'm pretty careful, and I know when to avoid trouble. Trust me, I'll be fine," Ragna assured him.

"If you say so. By the way what level are you?"

"Only level four," Ragna admitted. "But I've been working hard in order level up as fast as I can."

"You're going to need to," the redhead told him. "The first five levels are pretty easy to get to, but after that you have to grind like crazy an entire day just to get one level… Kind of like _Dragon Quest_ **(shots fired)** _._ Anyways, my name's Klein. And these guys are all part of my guild, the Fuurin Kazan. Nice to meetcha."

"Ragna, and likewise," the Reaper told him. "Anyways, I'm going to head for the next town so I'll see you around."

"Try to get there soon," Klein advised as Ragna started heading out. "Monsters are a lot stronger at night in here."

"Thanks for the tip," Ragna told him as he started running off.

"Boss, shouldn't we have tried harder to convince him to join us?" one of Klein's followers asked. "It seemed like you let him go pretty easily."

"If he didn't want to join us, he didn't want to join," Klein told him. "Plus that guy seemed pretty intimidating, didn't really want to argue that close to his face. He might be a few levels below us, but it's clear that he means business."

*Later*

Ragna continued travelling along the plains, the setting sun giving way to the orange sky above him. The Reaper didn't have any ideas of where the next town was, so his current plan was to keep walking along the path and see where it took him. He had a hard time wrapping his head around the opponents he fighting and his current state of strength. While he retained all of the skill he'd acquired from his countless battles against the NOL, his strength itself was no weakened greatly to what he'd had before. It didn't help that he'd lost most of his techniques when he'd made his way here.

A collection of snarls came from around the Reaper. Surrounding Ragna were four tiny reptilian creatures that were wearing some sort of leather armor. They were coming at Ragna from all sides with some sort of jagged hunting knife. Ragna didn't waste any time as he brought out _Blood-Scythe_ and rushed towards one of the creatures and slashed at its head. Surprisingly the creature was still standing as the 'slashed' animation played across its head. It did however take out two-thirds of its health.

 _'Guess I'm still at a pretty low level,'_ Ragna thought as he blocked the attacks from the other creatures before sticking the group back with a powerful roundhouse kick. Ragna then took advantage of the opening, causing his sword to glow a dark red as he performed his **_Power Attack_** across all of their chests. The creature he'd destroyed earlier was defeated and exploded into bright glass as the other three were heavily wounded.

The other three scurried around the Reaper before lunging, hoping to surround and impale him. Ragna leapt into the air as he performed a slash in mid-air, killing one of them and getting out of the pincer attack. " ** _Hell's Fang!_** " he shouted as he rushed forward and finished another one with his signature technique. His punch struck the creature right in head and destroyed him while the other one tried to advance Ragna when his guard was in the middle of an attack.

The creature's knife caught Ragna's forearm showing a 'slashed' animation, causing Ragna's health bar to decrease slightly. Ragna felt pain emanating from the wound, something he was surprised with. He didn't let the pain stop him though, as he brought his sword around for a final slash on the creature. The creature perished like the ones before it and the result screen was displayed.

 _'Didn't those guys back at the restaurant say that you shouldn't feel pain in this world?_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he examined the rewards he'd obtained, still holding _Blood-Scythe_ in his free hand. _'I guess that means I really am tied to this world.'_ After closing the screen he realized that his health bar was slowly reverting back to maximum HP. _'At least I have my BlazBlue to make things easier. But…'_

The Reaper closed the results screen and turned behind him to see another group of the creatures approaching him. _'Something tells me that I'm in for a long night…'_


	2. The Night is Young, The Sword is Ready

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Blackace70: You're calling it harem story pretty quickly, I haven't even had Ragna meet the first female character. And we already talked about an OC.**

 **Black sun 123: There are A LOT of people that hate Kirito out there. I myself only dislike him, but this could still be a refreshing change.**

 **Speedking535: There's always going to be shipping from the fans at least, I know I didn't learn my lesson last time.**

 **Animeandgamerlover2: Hope you enjoy then if you care that much about it.**

 **Guest (1): Here's the next update for you.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: If you're talking about for the second arc I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. I've got ideas forming in my very chaotic mind. For now, just enjoy the ride.**

 **Guest (2): I probably won't force him into any guilds, it's not really his scene and I try to keep him somewhat in character.**

 **Author's Note: Second chapter, sorry it took so long to put up, I blame a busy Thanksgiving.**

 **Just a warning, to those of you that read the manga or light novels, I'm mainly basing this story off of the anime, so just keep that in mind.**

 **The first few chapters will be Ragna meeting most of the cast before I actually start moving the story along. You'll see where this is going later.**

 **Enjoy, ciao!**

* * *

 _Blade I: The Night is young, The Swordsman is ready_

"Damn it, this is taking way too long," Ragna groaned to himself as he again pressed the 'OK' button for the result screen. He'd hoped that he'd make it to the next town within the first hour of darkness, but that hadn't been the case. He was now three hours into the night and he had no idea where he was. "When I finally get to that city first thing on the list is buying a map."

Ragna wasn't having trouble navigating in the dark, he'd been travelling during the night for years and this time he even had a nice full moon to help him find his way. The problem he was having was the constant encounter he was having with the enemy. He'd finally figured out that those lizard things were called kobolds, only to find that they were trying to swarm him now. In the past four and a half hours he'd had no fewer than fifty encounters. The good news with this was that he'd managed to make it to level six a while ago because of all of his constant fighting and had made over two thousand coal.

 _'I'm still nowhere as strong as I should be,'_ Ragna thought to himself somewhat disappointed. ' _Maybe this is some kind of blessing in disguise? …Nah, I'd still rather be in a bed right now. The sooner I get to the town, the better.'_ The Reaper's thought were interrupted when he heard the familiar scuffling of feet. He turned his head and saw yet another group of three kobolds. _'And now I have to deal with this freak show again. What a drag.'_

The Reaper unslung his sword as the first kobold rushed forward to slash the reaper with its jagged dagger. Ragna dodged the attack with ease before impaling the sucker through the chest with his sword slaying it instantly. The other two lunged forward for a frontal attack. Ragna blocked one of the knives with Blood-Scythe and interrupted the other kobold by grabbing the sucker by his arm and throwing him into his ally. With the two sprawled out on the ground he impaled them both, finishing them both off. The result screen came up in front of Ragna, revealing the reward he'd gotten as well a message informing him he'd leveled up.

 _'Well at least I got something,'_ Ragna thought as he closed the window, deciding he'd look over the details later. _'I could head back to the first town, but then I'd have to spend all that time getting back just to try this again in the morning. Guess I'll just have to grin and bear it. 'Sides, this is nothing I haven't dealt with before.'_

Ragna continued following his current path, hoping that the town would come into view soon so he could take a rest for the night. An hour of traveling and three more encounters later he was still in the grasslands, no sign of the city nearby. To make matters worse he found himself at a fork in the path. There wasn't a sign or anything letting him know which way to go. With no better idea's Ragna just decided to take a guess and ended up going left. After walking that path for a half hour he came across the opening to a cave.

 _'Crap, I'm pretty sure I went the wrong way,_ ' Ragna thought to himself, now somewhat regretting not joining Klein's group when he had the chance. _'Of course, the next town could just be through here… I guess it's worth checking out at least.'_

The inside of the cave was made very realistically for a video game. There were hints of moss growing on the wall and water lightly dripping off the stalagmites on the celling. The place was darker than the field outside, but Ragna was still able to see the area around him fairly well. Ragna slowly made his way through dispatching the odd group of boars and kobolds as he went. As he rounded one corner he found that he wasn't the only player in the cave.

"Hey," the stranger said to him from the rock he was seated on. He was a taller man, almost reaching Ragna's height. He had a bald head, a black beard and was wearing dark armor. The sword on his back looked larger than the normal blades, indicating that it was probably a greatsword.

"Hey," Ragna said in turn as he approached the man. One he was within a few feet he noticed himself going through a strange sort of barrier. When he turned around in surprise, the man let out a gravelly chuckle.

"Don't worry, it's just a safe zone barrier. Keeps the monsters out and gives us players a chance to catch our breath." Ragna scratched the back of his head, mildly embarrassed. "Anyways, call me Agil, just another player in this mess."

"Ragna," the Reaper told him, referring to his own name. "Looks like I took a wrong turn at the sign after all. I knew I should've taken a right."

"Why didn't you just check the map?" Agil questioned. "All you have to do is go into the info section and select map. It'll give you a complete view of the floor map." Noticing Ragna's cringe Agil sighed. "You didn't know about it, did you?"

"I do now," Ragna said as he opened his menu and went to the section that Agil had told him about. "Funny, I'm only seeing a few walls on mine."

"That's 'cause you're inside a dungeon," Agil explained. "When you're inside a dungeon you don't start out with a map and you don't record as you go. But if you keep the map open when you travel around you start to record the layout. It's what's called _mapping_."

"Huh," Ragna commented, impressed. "Anyways, what are you doing here, trying to get some get some late night levels?"

"Actually I was here trying to beat the mini-boss in this dungeon. I came here with four other people to try and beat this dungeon, but when we got to the damn thing the rest of my party took one hit before they turned and ran." Agile sighed. "They didn't take much damage, but before I knew it, they'd run off and I had no idea where they'd gone."

"Sorry, but I haven't seen anyone on my way here," Ragna told him. "You called this a mini-boss, I guess this means that this isn't one of the floor bosses."

"Nah, this is a different monster that goes by the name of the ' _Boar King'_. The thing had three health bars and it was about ten times the size of a normal pig. We could've taken it if the rest of my party hadn't run off."

"Then do you want my help?" Ragna offered. "If the two of us teamed up I'm pretty sure we could beat that thing without a problem."

"Are you crazy? I had four people with me last time, now you're talking about going after it with just you and me. I don't think we could pull it off."

"If we can't we'll just leave before things start to get ugly. Plus, I'm actually pretty good in a fight, I can get through several encounters without taking a single hit."

"And you're a solo player?" Agil asked. Ragna nodded. "I take it you were a beta tester then?"

 _'There's that phrase again, beta tester,'_ Ragna thought silently. _'I guess they were some of the people who managed to test the game before it came out.'_ "No, I'm just good with a sword."

"If you say so," Agil shrugged. "All right man, let's give it a shot." He opened his menu and pressed on several buttons. A screen then appeared in front of Ragna stating ' _Agil has sent you a dungeon map.'_ "This is the floor data that I managed to collect on my first run through. The place has four different paths, but two of them take you in a loop and the third one is a dead end, I know the one which take you to the boss."

"At least getting there will be easy," Ragna pointed out. "Anything else that we need to take care of?"

"Just to form a party and make official I guess," Agil told him. "Do you know how to send the party request?"

"I think so…" Ragna said as he went to his menu and scanned over the options. After looking for a minute he was finally successful in sending Agil a request to form a party. "There we go."

"Cool. Just to let you know, when you set a team up like this all experience, col, and items are distributed equally. That's just because these are the basic settings."

"Why would you want to change it?" Ragna questioned. "You'd think that everyone getting the same amount of everything would work the best."

"Normally yeah, but sometimes there are people who agree to help you out as long as you get a certain amount of the col or experience. Other times people change it to give lower level players a chance to catch up. It's a minor detail, but it comes in handy. For us I think fifty-fifty's all we're going to need."

"Let's get to it then," Ragna said as he walked past Agil and exited the safe zone. "I want to get this done and just get some damn sleep."

After the two came to the intersection an Agil sent them down the right path, a group of five feral pigs approached him. Three of them dug their feet into the ground before charging at Ragna while the other two targeted Agil. Ragna performed a horizontal slash utilizing his _' **Power Attack**_ ' ability, and was able to strike two of the boars down. He then sidestepped the third one's charge before lunging and impaling it on _Blood-Scythe_ , finishing it off. Agil's strategy was pretty basic, he simply kicked one of the boars as hard as he could into the other boar before slashing both of them at once. The two boars exploded in a display of glass shards.

"Are we getting close?" Ragna asked as he closed the result screen before starting to head off down the path.

"Pretty close, we'll be there in a couple of minutes," Agil told him. "So Ragna, why'd you wind up getting SAO, you don't seem like much of a gamer, no offense."

"None taken," Ragna said, trying to come up with an alibi. He didn't think that Agil would believe that he came from another world, so he just decided to come up with a partial truth. "I'm just here to work on my sword styles, this seemed like an easy way to do it."

"Did you run a dojo or something?" Agil asked him.

"Something like that," Ragna told him as the approached a pair of large ivory doors. There was a feral boar's head carved into both of the doors. "Well any earlier doubts of what we'd be fighting are now gone. Anything I should know about this thing's attack patterns?"

"When it charges it goes pretty fast, but it always travels in a straight line as it does. If you can time your dodge right, you should be able to counter attack for more damage."

"Sounds like we have our plan then," Ragna said before he brandished his sword and opened the door to meet the boss of this dungeon.

(Cue RWBY's _'This will be the Day'_ )

The room he was in was circular and had a radius of about 30 meter, making it seem like more of an arena. Along the walls bowls that were burning a light blue flame for light. And in the center was the behemoth known as the _'Boar King.'_ The creature was massive, almost twice as tall as Ragna and more than three times as wide. It had six giant tusks that looked like they could deal some serious damage. The behemoth dug its feet into the ground and let out a massive roar as its three health bars appeared.

"You still think we can take him!?" Agil asked as he held his greatsword, a little unsure now that he was staring down the monster face to face.

"Outmaneuver, outsmart, overpower; I'd don't care how, we're beating this thing!" Ragna shouted as he ran forward with _Blood-Scythe_. The _Boar King_ returned in kind as at charged at the Reaper. Despite the things massive size, it speed was incredible as it quickly closed the distance. When it was close enough Ragna dove to side, dodging the attack as he raked his sword across the boar's side.

The monster gave a shrill shrike of pain as it tried to stop, but lost its footing on the side Ragna had damaged. The monster fell on its side and slid on floor as it crashed into the wall, inflicting enough damage to take out half of a health bar.

"Olé," Ragna smirked with mild humor as he and his new ran at the boar to take advantage of its prone status.

"Don't get cocky!" Agil yelled as he performed three massive slashes while the boar was down. "The thing's not dead yet!"

"Don't worry I got it!" Ragna assured as he slashed _Blood-Scythe_ across the creatures stomach, damaging it greatly.

The boar let out a roar as it defied the laws of physics and leapt into the air. When it hit the ground the impact was able to send stalagmites raining down from above upon Ragna and Agil. The two fighters dived to the side and barely managed to avoid the attack. The beast took advantage of their unpreparedness after dodging and charged at Agil. The swordsman was completely unprepared as it looked like that one move might finish him.

 _'Even if I give myself away, I can't let this happen,'_ Ragna thought, not hesitating for a moment. _" **Hell's Fang!**_ " he shouted as he lunged forward, his fist coated in the shadows from his BlazBlue. The attack struck the creature dead in one of tusks, breaking the tooth and causing to veer off course, narrowly missing Agil. "You alright!?" Ragna shouted as he run up to the boar. The massive pig tried to knock him aside with his tusks, but Ragna managed to block the attack.

"Don't worry about me!" Agil demanded as he slashed the boar across the eye with his greatsword. The boar let out a scream of pain as it reeled upwards. "Just finish this freak!"

"On it!" Ragna said as he leapt twenty feet into the air.

The Reaper let out a battle cry as he plunged _Blood-Scythe_ down, impaling the creature. The boar let out another roar of pain as it reeled upwards, trying to knock Ragna off. All it did was leave its underbelly open for Agil to stab, the attack resulting in the big finally bursting into light shards. Despite the sudden loss of his footing, Ragna managed to land on his feet.

(End theme)

"Told you could take him," Ragna said to Agil, a victorious smirk on his face.

"I guess you were right," Agil admitted with a small smile of his own. A notification screen flashed in front of him. "Looks like I got the item we were after. Let's see… ' _Axe of Unyielding Might.'_ Holy crap, the attack power on this thing is massive this early in the game!"

"Lucky you I guess," Ragna said as he looked through his own result screen. "It's not that I want it or anything, but any particular reason you got the item instead of me?"

"Probably because I got the last attack on that thing," Agil said. "Look, you were the deciding factor in this fight, you can have the weapon if you want it."

"Thanks, but I think I'll stick with my own sword. I'm not about to give this thing up."

"Kind of an odd question," Agil started. "But what was up with that attack you pulled off?"

 _'Saw this coming, but if I saved a like I don't really regret it.'_ "That's… a little hard to explain."

"Got a secret, huh?" Agil said before slapping Ragna on the shoulder and giving a small chuckle. "I guess we've all got our secrets. You helped me out so I won't pry."

"…Thanks Agil. Anyways, we should probably get out of here god knows how late I'm going to sleep in."

"Guess I'll see you around then," Agil told the Reaper. "I've got to try this thing out." He changed his equipment so he was now using a greataxe instead of his greatsword.

"Later then," Ragna said as he ran off. ' _There goes keeping a low profile. Ah well, I guess I should have SOMEONE to trust. I can keep the circle small and this way I can team up with someone where I can still use my BlazBlue. Plus… it actually feels kinda nice to have a friend."_


	3. The Young Warrior

_Blade II: The Young Warrior_

"What do you mean you're held up!?" Ragna demanded as he pressed his finger into the long-range messenger. "You had to BEG me to sign both of us up for the tournament! Why can't you make it?!"

"Well I'm sorry, there's an event boss that just showed up and a group is trying to fight it off. I could try to help out or go around, but I wouldn't be able to get back to _Tolbana_ in time before the tournament. I know I roped you to this when I had you register yesterday, but you'll have to do it without me."

"But it's a double team," Ragna groaned. Agil, you know I don't talk to anyone and you're my only friend here that can do this!"

"What about that Klein guy? I thought you told me you met up with him again a few days after we fought that huge boar a week ago. You friend status should tell you where he is on the map, why don't you call him?"

"HE'S FIGHTING THE BOSS!"

"Oh," Agil said over the talking device. "Well Ragna, the way I see it you're going to have to cancel us. There's nothing I can do here, I'm out of teleport crystals and there's no way I can get there without them. Sorry man."

"Not as sorry as I am," Ragna complained. He sighed as he realized he was being unfair to Agil. "Look man, I get it, shit happens. I'll just get us cancelled for the tournament and we'll meet up later and try to find the boss room again. Just do me a favor and see if Kline needs any help."

"Sounds good, I'll see you around buddy." With that the transmission ended. Ragna made his way towards the sign up booth, strangely there was no line. The receptionist up front greeted him with a smile.

"I'd like to withdraw my entry from the tournament. It should be under _Bloodedge_."

"One moment," she said to him as she looked at the list screen. "Oh, there you are. _Ragna_ and _Agil_." The Reaper nodded. "Alright, that'll be two thousand col."

"What?" Ragna asked. "Why are you charging me money to get out, it was free to get in!"

"Sorry sir, that's just the policy," the receptionist said, feeling slightly afraid. "If you wanted to opt out, you should have done it before sign-up time ended."

"That was when I thought my partner was still on his way here." Ragna shook his head. "Is there anything else I could do?"

"Well you could try enter the tournament by yourself…" she told him. Ragna knew he could take these guys by himself, but that'd attract way too much attention. "The only other advice I can give is to try and find another partner. Find someone and come back and see me within fifteen minutes, otherwise you're fighting alone."

"I'll be back," Ragna said as he walked toward the waiting crowd. "Hey! Anyone need a partner?"

* * *

*Meanwhile*

"Dang it, that took too long!" A young girl said as she ran towards the booth for the meet up area. She saw the other three members of the team and saw her three teammates who were talking with each other and another girl. "Guys I'm back!"

"Oh, hey Silica!" Charlie, her partner for the tournament said to her. "You get the health potions?"

"Yeah, I did, but I don't know why you needed me to get them," Silica said with a pout. "You heal automatically after every tournament battle and you can't use them inside the fight."

"Oh, must've slipped our mind," Greg, another teammate, said as he scratched the back of his head. It was that time that a man in a red coat passed by, apparently looking for a partner.

"Well, enough about that!" Silica yelled. "You signed us up, right Charlie?"

"Yeah see, about that…" Charlie said as he scratched the back. "It was getting close to closing time, and you were still out, I needed a partner, and Sally here was available. I hope you understand."

Silica looked at them in shock, first at the person who called himself her partner until two minutes ago, and the new girl who was giving her a demeaning smile. _'They set me up!'_ With a huff she left the group, walked behind a tree, and pouted. _'They never let me in on the front lines, and now they won't even let me in the tournament! And after I worked so hard on my own time!'_

"How do you put up with that girl?" Sally asked from back in the group. Apparently they didn't realize that Silica could hear everything they were saying.

"We I had her join our group early on because I thought she was cute and could be our mascot," Ted, the team leader said. "Turned out she was useless in combat."

"Yeah," Greg told her. "It was so pathetic, she got scared of a boar on her first try! The only reason Charlie agreed to team up with her is because he drew the short stick."

"Yeah," Charlie said with a laugh. "That's why I ditched her the first chance I got. I don't need someone like her slowing me down in the tournament."

Silica couldn't take it. She immediately got out from behind the tree and ran off, just to get away from everyone. Her team didn't notice, they just kept talking with each other and laughed. _'Those… those idiots!'_ she cursed as she ran with tears in her eyes. Little did she know, a certain Reaper had heard the whole thing.

 _'I feel sorry for her, but I don't think there's anything I could do…'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Well, she does need a partner, so I guess I could ask her… Ah, hell. Why is it always me?'_

Silica was right by the edge of the river, crying by herself. She'd tried her hardest, she really had, but it was impossible when her friends didn't even give her a chance. After the countless hours she'd spent practicing, she thought she could show her skill at the tournament. Now even that was taken from her.

"What are you going to do?" she heard a voice behind her ask. She turned in surprise and saw a man with a red coat leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I heard what they said about you."

"They don't even give me a chance," Silica said. "I tried really hard to get ready for this tournament and learn how to fight, but they won't listen to me. Why do you care?"

"Because I'm willing to listen, and I need a partner for the tournament," Ragna said. "I got cancelled out too, but unlike you I managed to get a spot in the tournament before that happened."

"You want to have me as a partner?" Silica asked. "Well… I guess, but why me?"

"Besides the fact that everyone's taken? I felt kind of bad for you," Ragna admitted. "Anyways, you got a name?"

"Silica," she said to Ragna. She noticed Ragna cringe slightly, not much but it was there. "What's your name?"

"Ragna," he told her as he got up from the wall. "If you want to talk, we'll do it later. For right now, I need to tell the front desk about the change in partners."

"A-All right," Silica said as she followed behind Ragna. _'He doesn't exactly mince words… but he gave me a chance, so maybe he's a good person I guess?'_

As the two walked back to the desk the reception gave Ragna another welcoming smile. "So I take it you found your partner?" Ragna nodded as the receptionist brought up the screen. "And what's your name?"

"Silica," she told the receptionist as her name was entered into Agil's former spot.

"Alright, you're in the system and just in time too!" the receptionist said cheerfully, before letting out a giggle. "And she's quite the cutie too, you sly dog!"

"Yeah no," Ragna said with little conviction. "You know who's going first?"

"First we have a group named ' _The Dark Knights'_ and another group called the _'White Fangs.'_ From this schedule you'll be going eighth."

"I guess we should head over to the seats then," Silica said as she walked off. "I wonder what the rest of these fights will be like."

"If anything they'll be dull and painfully boring," Ragna said as he made his way to an open seat in the auditorium with Silica sitting next to him.

*Later*

To Ragna's standard, he hadn't been wrong, none of these guys had anything that interesting up their sleeve. They mostly just spammed special attacks until their opponents' health dropped far enough or they were forced out of the stadium.

"All right, victory goes to the _'Seahawks!'_ " the NPC announcer told everyone. Someone in the audience yelled ' _49ers!_ ' "Anyways, the next two teams we have up are the ' _Phantom Knight's_ ' and ' _Bloodedge.'_ Can the two teams please step forward?"

"That's us," Ragna said as he got up from his seat and walked down to the combat arena.

"Which one?" Silica asked as she followed behind her new partner.

"Bloodedge," Ragna told her as they walked down the steps. Noticing her curiosity, he decided to give her something to go off of. "It's a nickname, one that I used to go by."

"How'd you get it?" she asked him as the two walked into the arena. Their opponents stood aside from them, two lancer users with cocky grin on their faces. As soon as everyone was inside the barrier a timer started counting down.

"I started fighting back," Ragna said as the screens said to begin dueling. The lancer immediately rushed forward with their points at Ragna. Their points were mere inches from the Reaper's face when his hands shot out, catching both of the weapons. The two lancers attempted to push their blades forward in an attempt to follow through with the attack, it wasn't happening. "Turns out I was good at it!" he shouted as he swung the lances and flung the spearmen out of the ring.

"O… Out of bounds!" the announcer shouted. "This round goes to team Bloodedge!"

"Woah, did you see that?" someone in the audience said in surprise. "He threw them out of the arena like it was nothing!"

"Total badass, right there," another one said in admiration. "Maybe we should get him to join our team."

 _'Crap,'_ Ragna thought with a grimace. _'I'm looking too powerful out there.'_ He then noticed Silica looking at him with her eyes wide in surprise. "L-Let's just head back to our seats."

"O-Okay…" Silica said as she followed behind him. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Short of just worked with it," Ragna told her. "I also just got lucky that time."

"I don't really believe that," Silica said to him. "But, alright I guess. We'll just have to fight as hard as we can and win this!"

"That's the spirit," Ragna said to her with a rare smile. Silica gave an eager nod, knowing that Ragna actually was a decent person now.

The rest of the matches were pretty boring, except when Ragna and Silica were up. Celica was quick on her feet and made up with her reach with a blade with her speed. Ragna was able to defend her from attacks while she managed to attack when her opponents were off guard. The two were a devastating duo and managed to take the others down with ease.

*Outside the Stadium*

"I can't believe we got knocked out in the first round," Charlie complained. "I thought our chances were so good!"

"I guess there were just some really good people here," Sally told him.

"I was out in one too," Ted told them. "But those people were so strong I guess we didn't stand a chance." There was suddenly a loud roar coming from the stadium. "Sounds like the final round's about to begin. Let's see if we can go watch and learn something."

"If you say so," the Charlie said walking into the stands. When he made it there he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Is that Silica!?"

"How did she manage to make it this far? I thought she didn't have partner?" Greg demanded before he got a look at the guy she was with. "Who's the guy in red?"

"I thought I saw him earlier looking for a partner," Sally told the others. "I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to team up with him if he's made it this far."

The final round then began with Silica taking the advantage and rushing forward as fast as she could. She actually managed to damage one of the characters before they had a chance to put up a decent guard. As the other man tried to attack Silica while her guard was down the man in red leapt forward and socked him in the jaw. The impact enough to send him skidding back a few feet before Ragna leapt at him again and sent him flying outside the barrier with a flying kick to his chest. The man against Silica tried to get her, but her speed just too much for him. Within mere moments his health dropped to the red.

"Looks like we have a winner!" the announcer shouted. "This tournament goes to team Bloodedge by a huge margin! Give it up for these two everyone!"

The crowd responded in kind giving a huge cheer to Ragna and Silica. This was the first time Ragna ever had someone cheer for him. He admitted that he wasn't against the idea, but he still wanted to keep a low profile. Noticing Silica scuffling behind him to avoid the attention he let out a chuckle, it seemed he wasn't the only one who didn't like having too much attention.

"I'll be back with your reward in just a second," the announcer said as he went to the back room.

Many of the people started leaving out of the auditorium, but one group started walking towards Silica and Ragna, her old group.

"Nice job out there Silica," Greg said with a smile. "I had no idea you could do that!"

"You were amazing!" Ted said, feeling a little giddy himself.

"Great show out there you two!" Sally told them.

"Well I'm certainly glad you're on our team," Charlie said. "Who knows where I'd be without you."

Silica was silent for a moment before opening her menu. Her friends looked on in moderate confusion as she pushed a few buttons. "Well I'm not with you anymore." A message appeared in front of everyone. _'Silica has left your group.'_

"What the-?" Ted said in surprise at first, before his face turned to disgust. "Oh, so now you're too good for us, is that it!?"

"No, I'm not too good for you," Silica said to him with a glare. "After all, I'm only a pretty mascot, aren't I?"

Everyone in the old group let out a large gulp. "You..." Charlie stuttered. "H-How much did you hear?"

"All of it," she said, continuing to glare. "Well now I have a new partner to work with!" she shouted grabbing Ragna's arm.

"Whoa! What!?" Ragna said in surprise at first before he noticed Silica was glaring at him. "I, I mean yeah! We're partners, now until the end! Silica and Ragna." He freely pumped his fist once in the air. "Woo…"

"Sounds like you two are a pretty sound team then," the announcer said as he came back with a small pouch. "Here's the mystery item and the col. The game made the item pouch, so I don't even know what is. Hope you turn up again!"

"Maybe," Ragna said as he walked past Silica's old group, the young lady following close behind him. As he made his way up the stairs of the auditorium he saw two familiar faces. "So you guys managed to make it here…"

"Yeah," Agil said scratching the back of his head in slight guilt. "Well I was going to apologize, but it looks like you were able to make a friend this way."

"You're still buying me a round," Ragna said with a glare.

"I won't say no to some celebration," Klein said with a big smile. "I already told my guild to do whatever, so why don't we all celebrate at the tavern?"

"Alright," Ragna said with a sigh before looking at Silica. "What about you? You just dumped your group, right?"

"I thought you said we were partners," Silica said puffing her cheeks.

"You made me say that!" Ragna exclaimed, causing Agil and Klein to burst out laughing. "Shut up! You're both buying me two rounds now!"

"Fine, fine," Agil said. "Just show us what the mystery item is and we can get something to drink."

"All right, let's hit the tavern," Ragna said as the two headed out.

* * *

*TimeSkip- The Tavern*

As Ragna and the crew walked inside the tavern things immediately got quiet. Everyone in the guild was looking at them. As Ragna walked up to the front desk the people started whispering about him and his performance in the ring.

"You mind bringing the drinks up to my room?" Ragna asked woman at the front desk.

"I can do that," the woman said to him. "Do you want your orders now or will I take them later?"

"I'll come down with them later," Ragna said as he started walking upstairs with the other three following closely behind. He got to the room he'd purchased last night and opened the door with a key. The table only had two chairs, so he decided to sit on the bed next to Silica.

"All right, let's see what this thing is," Ragna said before untying the string keeping the bag in place. As the leather fell around the bag he looked at the object in mild shock. "An egg? A large, light blue egg."

"I haven't seen one of these things before in the game," Klein told him. "Must be a special item or something. Maybe it's a food ingredient?"

"You mean I just busted my ass for an ingredient?" Ragna demanded. "Frickin' great. Maybe if I hold on to it I'll hatch a chicken or something."

"Nah, it's got to be more than just that," Agil said before he touched the egg to appraise it. "Mystery egg… even its description tells us nothing."

"It's a pretty big mystery isn't it?" Silica said before picking the egg up.

"Hey, be careful with it," Ragna ordered.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to-" The egg shook in her hands. "Guys, it's hatching!"

Slowly crack marks started appearing all over the egg before small little claw broke though. Out of the hole emerged a small, light blue, reptilian head. The thing then broke the rest of the egg revealing wings and a tail.

"Aw, it's so cute!" Silica said as she nuzzled the newborn. It gave a small chip before a low purr at the contact. Apparently it liked Silica and possibly saw her as its mother.

"Is that a dragon?" Klein said with shock. "I've never seen a player with one before! It must be super rare or something!"

"Must be," Ragna said as Silica and the dragon continued to snuggle. "I guess that means I'm getting the col for this."

"A-Are you sure?" Silica asked. "You were the main reason we succeeded in the fight so I think it's your call."

"You put in a lot of work yourself, besides I'm not about to get between you and that thing," Ragna told her. "It needs a name though."

Silica thought to herself for a moment. "How about we call her Pina? I always told myself if I ever had a pet I'd name her Pina."

"If that's how you want to do it," Ragna told her. "So what are we gonna do now?"

"Well drink for one thing," Agil told him. "Plus, you said something about looking for the boss room tomorrow, so we could do that."

"I'm working with my guild on a quest tomorrow," Klein said. "So sorry, but I'm out."

"Must be tough being a guild leader," Ragna admitted. "What about you Silica?"

"C-Could I stick with you?" she asked nervously. "You seem like a good person and I want to team up with you as thanks!" She shouted the last part, probably trying to prove a point.

"I guess?" Ragna said a little unsurely.

Agil chuckled. "Looks like mister dark and moody got himself an admirer." Silica blushed slightly at the accusation while Ragna glared. "Only stating the obvious."

"That's it! Four rounds from both of you!" Ragna shouted.

"What'd I do?" Klein complained. "It's Agil's fault!"

"You didn't stop him! It's good enough for me!"

"That's just cold!"

Agil and Silica laughed as the two argued with each other. Pin let out a small chirp from Silica's arms. It was still a death trap in the game, and they might be creating chaos between them, but they were all friends…

And in the end, that was all that mattered.

 **Authors Note: I don't own anything.**

 **Then end of another tie in chapter, introducing dragon tamer Silica and her magical dragon. If you have any ideas for chapters, I'll be sure to listen, there's a lot to cover in this story.**

 **Guest Reviews:**

 **Animeandgamelover2: I don't think this will be a harem story, at least not right now. And having Ragna romance the female characters seems unlikely due to the age gap and the possibility of him diyng.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT the fallen one: Not sure beater is an important enough term to describe what he is.**

 **Speedking535: Yui, huh? I have a few ideas for how they'll meet, but I'll just have to see where the story goes.**

 **Go ahead and leave some reviews.**

 **Ciao.**


	4. Who's the Real Hero?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online, BlazBlue, or its characters.**

 **Authors Note: I know I'm putting this chapter out kind of early, but I had some ideas for it, so I decided what the hell? I appreciate the encouragement I'm getting from you. Here are some responses to the reviews.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: I'd have to work with Argo a lot in order to turn her into a full character, but maybe she can show up sometime in the later chapters. And for Silica dumping her team? I got a grin myself when I wrote it.**

 **animeandgamerlover2: Glad to hear you liked the ending.**

 **Black sun 123: They're all eighteen or nineteen. I'd always thought that Noel was twenty-one for some reason.**

 **Speedking535: I wouldn't necessarily say he's getting the girls, but I can only imagine what Jin and Rachel would say. It would be gag reel worthy.**

 **Cloud Narukami: I wasn't thinking that I would, but if enough people demand it, I'll consider it.**

 **Guest: Indeed she is, and her new dragon helps too.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: I don't think Beater is a menacing enough term to describe him. I'll have to come up with something else.**

 _Blade III: Who's the Real Hero?_

It was a week after Ragna had met Silica in the tournament. In most of those days, he'd spent his time teamed up with her and Agil, handling quests and attempting to level up with each other. Silica had grown into an intimidating fighter, even more so now that her pet dragon Pina had started using a support ability to heal Silica. Agil had been improving as well, and while his speed hadn't improved much his strength was staggering. Now it was extremely rare for an opponent not be taken down within two hits from his axe.

As for the Reaper, Ragna had been getting more used to the RPG world and how most of the system worked with him. He'd become an absolute master at combat, rarely ever needing to rely on his swords arts, and merely needing his overwhelming strength, speed, and skill. Sometimes all the Reaper really needed were his fists and the occasional roundhouse kick (Chuck Norris style), so he'd become a pretty powerful figure in the world.

Ragna was still trying to lay low after everything that had happened in the tournament. He hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself, but it turned out that people had started to take notice of him. Ragna knew the more people that wanted to team up with him, the more things could go wrong if he ever slipped and used one of his BlazBlue's abilities. He'd allowed himself to work with Agil, Klein, and Silica, but only because he fully trusted that they wouldn't blab on him.

Speaking of his BlazBlue, Ragna had managed to recover on his most essential techniques when he managed to reach level ten. He'd obtained his classic ' _Carnage Scissors,'_ move and had tested it, realizing it had worked the same as last time (though he hadn't shown anyone the move). This turned out to be the only chance Ragna would have of regaining any health by use of his special moves present day. Fortunately, it was also his most powerful move as of right now. Ragna had obtained other special moves from the game and had worked with them, but he hadn't really needed to rely on them as much as he would have thought. The only thing he hadn't been improving was his equipment, but that was due to him being unable to find the materials.

Currently, today marked the day of two months since the beginning of Sword Art Online. Despite how hard Ragna and the others had been working, no one had been able to clear floor one or figure out where the boss room was. Some of the better players were hosting a meeting today to discuss a strategy for finishing the first floor.

The meeting was taking place in the auditorium where Ragna had fought in the tournament, so a few people recognized him when he walked to some open seats. Already there were people whispering things about him as he sat down towards the back. Silica and Agil were on their way and were going to meet up with him before the meeting started, but Klein was taking care of some quests with his guild and told them that he'd 'get the next boss.'

Ragna let out a yawn as he proceeded to lay on his bench and close his eyes. He'd been out late last night getting some late night solo work in. Despite forming something of a team, he still felt drawn to the idea of 'one against the world.' Maybe it was because he'd been doing it his entire life, but who could say for sure?

"Are you hogging the seats or saving them for us?" Ragna heard Agil ask with a chuckle. He slightly opened one of his eyes and saw the man looking down at him with Silica standing next to him.

"Feel free to sit anywhere, these spots are taken," Ragna said as he closed his eye.

"This is what you get for staying out so late," Agil told him as he sat a down in the row in front of Ragna with Silica doing the same. "So you think that we'll be able to come up with something today?"

"We'd better, we still have a hundred of these things right?" Ragna reminded. "If you don't want to get trapped here forever we'd better pick up the pace."

"Yeah, but chances are this is going to be a boss rush," Silica said before getting close to Ragna's face to whisper in his ear. "What if you end up have to use those odd moves that you never talk to us about?"

"Then I'll just have to deal with it," he told her as the Dragon tamer leaned back. "I'd rather beat the boss first chance I get, so if it makes sense, I may actually lead with that."

"If it's what it takes to win, right?" Agil questioned. The Reaper simply nodded. "You know that since the tournament some people have taken to calling you ' _Ragna the Bloodedge?'_ Seems like a pretty intimidating name, but somehow a fitting one."

"And one that I haven't been able to avoid," Ragna said with a yawn.

"Huh?" Silica asked confused.

"Looks like the meetings started," Ragna told the others, avoiding questioning as a man with light blue hair in mid class armor came onto the stage.

"All right," the man addressed everyone. "Thank you all for coming to the meeting. My name is Diabel, and my job role is a knight!" Some of the other players jokingly called him out on it, causing Ragna to groan slightly because they were wasting time. "Anyways, I have bad news to start out with. As of right now, two thousand people have died in this game."

Well that shut everyone up. Ragna could feel the weight of what that meant. Not only were they dead, but they were also incapable in some way for clearing the game. He desperately hoped that they'd be able to start clearing the game at a quicker rate, otherwise they'd be out of players before they hit floor seventy.

"I know it's hard to hear," Diabel told them. "But I do have good news for all of you; we managed to find the boss room and judging what we found on the inside the guide that was produced by the beta testers was right."

A couple of people started murmuring to each other before Diabel started talking to them about strategy. Since they'd have minions to deal with when they faced down the boss, there would be half of the party attempting to slay the minions while the other group would engage the boss directly and focus on whittling down its health.

"So it seems like we have a strategy," Diabel told them. "Now we'll meet outside of the boss room at ten in the morning tomorrow. Any questions?"

"I've got something to say!" Everyone turned and saw a punk running down to the stage with strange orange hair that seemed to be styled as rounded spikes. "My name Kibaou, you got that?! I've got something to get off my chest about those Beta Tester! They act like they're trying to help us, but what did they do when this game first started!? They took all of the experience and quests for themselves while they left us newbies stumbling in the dust! They should have to pay for what they did to us! It's thanks to us that 2000 of us are dead!"

No one said anything for a while, as they mulled over Kibaou's words. Then Agil rose from his seat and walked down to the stage. "But they have been helping us," Agil said. "You haven't heard the news of several new players on the verge of death were saved by the Beta testers. You're calling them out, but the truth is that if they weren't helping us out, we've would've lost closer to 3000 players… So are they really at fault?"

"I…" Kibaou was at a loss for words. "Tch!" With that he turned his back on Agil and took his seat.

"Well now that we've gotten that out of the way this meetings dismissed. Everyone show up tomorrow in your groups and we'll show this game who runs it!" The crowd gave a small cheer as sort of a battle cry.

 _'Guess I'll be fighting with Agil and Silica tomorrow,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'At least I have a group that I belong to.'_ As he opened his eyes, he noticed a girl in a red hood walking away by herself. _'Am I really doing this again? Curse you good consciousness!'_ "I'll be back in a second," Ragna said to Silica as he stood. "Tell Agil not to wait up for me."

"O-Okay," Silica said to him as Ragna walked off.

The Grim Reaper followed the girl as she made her way into the square. "Hey, wait up." She turned to him, and because of the hood he couldn't make out any details of her face, but that wasn't really what mattered now. "Don't you have a team?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

"I'm not here to make friends…" she said. "And I've been doing well by myself."

"Well so have I," Ragna told her. "But tomorrow's going to be a boss fight and there's no telling what's going to happen. Why don't you join my group, just for tomorrow? Then you can decide what you want to do."

The girl was silent for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I'll team up with you for tomorrow, what's your name?"

"Ragna," he told her as he touched his menu and sent the party request. She tapped the okay button and he saw her name appear just under Agil and Silica's. "So… your name's Asuna."

"How can you tell?" she asked him. Apparently she hadn't learned everything when she traveled alone.

"If you look in the top left you can see your name and health as well as the people who you've teamed up with. Currently I'm teamed up with two other people, so they should be there as well."

"Yeah, Agil and Silica," Asuna nodded. "So where are we going from here?"

"There's an inn a short ways away that we all stay at. The rooms come with two beds, so as long as you don't mind rooming with Silica we shouldn't have any reason to change accommodations."

"I can't say for certain now since I don't know her, but I should be fine with it," Asuna said to him. "Mind leading the way?"

"No problem," Ragna said as they headed out.

When Ragna and Asuna walked into the in later, most people stopped talking yet again. Ragna was starting to regret taking part in that little tournament of earlier, then he saw how happy she was Silica with Pina and he decided to just grin and bear it.

"So that's where you went," Agil said as Ragna and Asuna sat down. "I thought it was strange when a new party member showed up."

"Yeah, well she didn't have a partner," Ragna told them as he looked over his restaurant menu (it was set up as one of this holographic screens btw). "I mean we're going to need to stick together if we're going to get through tomorrow, yeah?" He then noticed the strange look Agil was giving him. "What?"

"Sorry, but who are you and what have you done with the brooding, mysterious, lone wolf that we called Ragna," he demanded.

"It's only for tomorrow," Ragna told him. "After that I'm going right back to being a solo player. You guys are great and all, but I work better by myself." It was then that he realized he hadn't introduced Asuna yet. "Oh sorry, guys this is Asuna."

"Agil, nice to meet you," Agil said as he shook Asuna's hand.

"My name's Silica and this is Pina!" Silica said as Pina let out a loud chirp. "Glad to be working with you!"

"Likewise," she told them, before noticing Ragna was still looking over the menu. "Trying to find something?"

"Beef teriyaki," Ragna told her. "I've been looking for some since I came to this world, but they don't have that, they don't have pho, and they don't even have curry." Ragna sighed as he finally selected the stew and the bowl appeared in front of him. "I mean don't get me wrong, adding in talking with a NPC waiter and waiting for your food is a great option, but you'd think you could find some better variety in the food."

"You could always try cooking," Silica told him. "I hear that they have an entire system dedicated to cooking."

"No thanks," Ragna said as he sipped the stew. "I don't want the system here to mess up what I know about cooking in the real world… plus I'm too busy level grinding."

"You cook?" Asuna asked curiously. Ragna gave Asuna a strange look before nodding.

"Yeah, I know my way around the kitchen. I was actually pretty good at it if you'll believe that," Ragna said with a chuckle. "What about you?"

"I can cook, a little," she told him. "But I'm not sure if I want to spend time on it."

"Well it's nice to have a hobby," Agil told her. "It also helps to have a skill you can fall back on for experience when you're not in the mood for combat. Of course for Ragna…"

"He's always in the mood for combat," everyone except Ragna said before laughing. Even Asuna let out a small giggle. The Reaper rolled his eyes, but betrayed himself with a smile. In a way, he felt like he was getting back his life that Terumi had taken from him in his childhood.

 _'But how long do I have to enjoy it?'_ he thought to himself. _'I guess that doesn't matter for right now, I'll just have to make the most of it and say goodbye if the time comes.'_

*The Next Morning*

"So everyone's here?" Diabel asked, looking around. They were in front of the boss room awaiting for the time that they'd plan their first boss rush. "Then let's do this!"

The doors opened and the enemies appeared in front of them. First were a few kobolds wearing metal armor, they had high defense, but they could still be dealt with. Then appeared the true boss of the floor: Illfang the kobold king.

Ragna was working with Asuna while Agil and Silica fought together. Ragna knocked two of the kobolds away while Asuna went with her rapier and stabbed them both to finish them off. Her speed and precision impressed Ragna, the technique was flawless.

"Nice, but we need to keep this up!" Ragna said. "We're almost done here!"

"Right!" Asuna said as she stabbed another kobold. Once they were done with their opponents Ragna turned and saw that Illfang's health had dropped to the red zone. As expected, the monster changed weapons.

 _'Looks like we may be able to finish this after all,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Just so long as-"_

"He's mine!" a lone soldier said as he stepped forwards. Ragna was about to curse the man out for being foolish before he noticed that it was Diabel. In that one moment of surprise Illfang brought his blade down and sent Diabel flying, knocking out almost all of his health.

"Diabel!" Ragna shouted as he noticed Illfang was wreaking havoc on the remaining players. Asuna ran to help defend them as their formation had been broken without Diabel giving orders out. "Idiot," Ragna said as he took a potion out of his pouch to stop the rapid decrease in Diabel's health.

"No…" Diabel wheezed out, in apparent pain. "It's my… fault… I put myself first…"

 _'He put himself first?'_ Ragna thought. _'Does that mean…'_

 _Flashback_

 _"Lucky you I guess," Ragna said as he looked through his own result screen. "It's not that I want it or anything, but any particular reason you got the item instead of me?"_

 _"Probably because I got the last attack on that thing," Agil said. "Look, you were the deciding factor in this fight, you can have the weapon if you want it."_

"You were after the last hit item," Ragna realized. "That's why you tried to take it yourself."

"They can't have someone like me of a hero…" Diabel rasped. "I'd just do this again… They need someone like you to lead them… Ragna, promise me…"

The Reaper was silent for only a moment. "…Diabel?"

"Yeah?" he asked before Ragna's potion was shoved into his mouth. Once the contents had been emptied and his health had been restored he let out a string of coughs. We he looked at Ragna the look he was giving him was menacing.

"YOU IDIOT!" he shouted. "So you're just going to give up and die here! You screwed up once, so what!? THESE PEOPLE NEED YOU!"

It was then that Ragna heard a massive roar coming from Illfang. There were several downed party members in front of him, no one was dead, but they'd taken enough damage to reach critical. The monster had his sword raised to finish off the entire group at once.

" ** _HELL'S FANG!_** " Ragna roared as he lunged and socked Illfang right in the gut sending the monster flying into the wall. All of the other fighters gasped as the saw the move. Even after Ragna's attack was complete there were still traces of dark aura on him. "Well that secret's out," Ragna said plainly as he grabbed _Blood-Scythe_. "Silica, make sure everyone's alright. I'll take this freak."

Illfang's eyes became a glare as he focused on his new target; The Grim Reaper. The two roared as their blades clashed. Ragna forced Illfang's blade off of him and smashed his fist into the monsters gut sending him flying back. Ragna roared as he lunged forward again, narrowly dodging Illfang's sword slash by leaping into the air and kicking the monster back. As Ragna landed he poured energy into his _Azure Grimoire_ to finish the fight.

 ** _"CARNAGE-!"_** he shouted as he lunged forward and performed a lunge over Illfang's entire body. **_"SCISSORS!"_** There was an explosion of dark energy that slammed into Illfang, causing the monster to roar is it was completely encompassed in the darkness before shattering. Parts of the light blue shards were absorbed into Ragna's right arm, healing him of the one hit he'd gotten from the kobold knights.

There was silence for a moment, before a small message appeared. _'CONGRATULATIONS!'_ The crowd let out a cheer as Ragna said nothing. He simply put his sword back and started to make his way towards the newly opened door that would take him to the second floor.

"Hold on a minute you!" a voice demanded. It was Kibaou of course who else. "What was that power you just used!?"

"It's a power that only I can use apparently," Ragna told him, not hiding anything. "If I knew how to obtain it, I'd have told someone by now."

"Only for you huh!?" Kibaou mocked. "You must be some sort of hacker to pull that off!"

"Yeah, well I'm not," Ragna told him. "If you got a complaint bring it up with the developers. I got no time to argue with pricks like you."

"You think you're better than us, is that it? Just because you have a special power doesn't mean we'll follow you!"

"Who says I wanted you to?" Ragna said before turning his back on him. "You're all competent enough one your own. If you get stronger, I doubt you'll need someone like me."

Ragna made his way up the stairs, heading for the next level and the next string of enemies. "Hey wait!" It was Diabel. "Why didn't you let me die there? I would've had everyone dead if it wasn't for you."

"I know," Ragna said as he touched a few buttons on his scree. "That's why I'm giving this to you as a reminder."

A screen appeared in front of Diabel, letting him know he was getting an item. "Coat of Midnight? Why are you giving me this?"

"This was the reward for the last hit bonus. I don't need it, but let this be a reminder for what could happen when you put yourself above the team. Lead a guild, clear bosses on your own, help inexperienced players, I don't care. But remember that you're trying to save everyone, not just make yourself look good."

Diabel was silent for a moment before he equipped the coat. The coat was long and black with grey studs and had an insignia of a crescent moon on it. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm a solo player," he said as he saw his friends behind Diabel, looking at him expectantly. He gave them a sad shake of his head. "You're place is the leader, I'm a lone wolf, but we're both after the same thing. Remember that."

Ragna clicked his menu and left his team. His friends looked at their notifications as he made his way past Diabel over to them. "I guess this is it," Ragna told them. "Take care of yourselves and stay alive yeah?"

"Don't say it like this is goodbye," Silica told the Reaper. "We'll met up again soon, and when we do we'll be strong enough to take this game with just us!"

"The kid's got enthusiasm," Agil commented with a laugh. "If you're really set on being a solo player I'm not going to stop you, just remember you've got people to call when you get into trouble."

"Please," Ragna scoffed. "How the hell am I going to be the one to get in trouble? If anything I'll call you because I'm bored."

"You just keep telling yourself that," Agil said with a smirk.

Ragna then turned to address Asuna. "Teaming up with others isn't so bad, is it?"

"I guess not," she admitted to him. "You guys made it easier for me and… I had fun with it."

"In that case think about joining a guild," Ragna told her. "Any group out there would kick some serious ass with you in it."

"Hypocrite," she said to Ragna with a small chuckle. "But I'll consider it. You know for a lone wolf you seem to help a lot more people out than you let on."

"I guess I do," Ragna said as he turned and started walking to the next floor, ready for whatever the future would hold for him. "I'll see you guys around." Ragna was ready to get back to the fighting, fighting for his new friends, the people who were trapped in this games, and because fighting was the only thing he knew.


	5. The Lone Wolf's Power

_Blade IV: The Lone Wolf's Power_

It had been a month since the clearing of the first floor and life had started to change dramatically in Sword Art Online. Ever since the secret of how to clear the floors had been found, many of the players were able to clear floors at a much fast rate now, already five levels had been cleared by players, thanks in no small part to three powerful guilds that had been created. The three guilds were the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ led by their commanded Heathcliff _,_ the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ who was controlled by the three dragon generals _,_ and another group called _Dark Shield._

Unlike the previous two, _Dark Shield_ focused less on fighting on the frontlines and more on helping the weaker players so that they would be able to survive should anything go wrong. That didn't make them at all inferior. Though they had been created fairly recently, they already had fifteen hundred members in the guild and an elite force dedicated to fighting on the frontlines and clearing floors. The leader of both the frontline fighters and the guild itself was Diabel, who had worked hard to get to where he was today and gained several close followers in his travels.

But not everyone was dedicated to working in guilds, or even with each other. Ragna seldom went into the towns in the morning, but when he did it was more of a need to stock up on supplies and find new quests rather than for actual enjoyment. He was obsessed with getting stronger, and if that meant spending time out in the wilderness fighting all day, then he'd fight in the wilderness until he was about to drop. Luckily, his level of stamina was leagues above a normal human, so he could keep fighting for a while.

Ragna was currently on the seventh floor which was simply known as the autumn floor. The reason it was called this was because most of the floor was covered in trees that were covered in orange leaves. It was a sight to behold for most people, but Ragna wasn't here to sight see, he was monster hunting. Currently he was finishing a battle with a group of strange humanoids. They looked like humans, but had point ears and wore plate armor that looked like it was made out of tree bark and had been dyed to look like the trees. He'd fought these monsters before, and they'd identified themselves as _Autumn Elves_.

As Ragna executed a horizontal slash in order to finish off the elf closest to him. The attack was powerful enough to cut through the elf's shortsword and strike the warrior, finishing it off. As Ragna finished the slash he heard the twang of a longbow as the warrior's back up archer fired an arrow at him. Immediately his free hand shot out and caught the arrow. He then had his sword glow a deep black as he threw his sword the blade spinning in the air as it cut through the archer before it arced back to its wielder like a boomerang. Ragna caught the blade without difficult and sheathed it one his back.

"So that's how the skill works," Ragna said to himself as he looked over the rewards he'd obtained from the fight. "Level Twenty-Five already, huh? Looks like I'm getting better at this than I thought. And now I've finally gotten enough elven leather to improve my coats stats the next time I stop at a blacksmith's shop."

Ragna started heading out again, walking the dirt path beneath the trees. It hadn't even been two days since the floor had been opened and he was starting to like it here. He hadn't been participating in boss raids since that first one had taken place, but luckily it seemed that he wasn't needed. With their new arrangement of commanders each of the teams he developed a clear strategy for beating the floor bosses. That didn't stop them from having close calls, but luckily they were prepared for healing the party members so they wouldn't lose anyone.

As Ragna continued to follow his current path in the forest he realized that he was getting closer and closer to the pillar that would probably lead him to the next floor. This could mean that the path he was currently following could be enough to take him to the dungeon he needed to clear in order to progress to the next floor. He could probably save everyone else a lot of trouble by mapping out the place for them and telling them where to go. Once he was close enough he save the entrance to the dungeon. It was the bass of a giant oak tree emerging from the pillar with the wood creating an arch over the stairs he'd be taking to enter the dungeon.

"If this isn't the dungeon leading to the next floor I'll join a guild," Ragna said to himself cockily as he walked up the stairs and got his first real look of the dungeon. There were several branching paths that were made to resemble giant branches and the walls of the dungeon looked like it was made to resemble the inside of the tree. The branches looked like they would be leading Ragna up the entire time, so he'd have to deal with his enemies having the high ground.

(Cue Kirby _Meta Knights Revenge_ )

 _'This looks like it could kill my boredom,'_ Ragna thought with a smirk as he drew _Blood-Scythe_ before pouring some of his energy into his _Azure Grimoire_. A small notification appeared in front of his face saying _Auto-Map Activated._ "Speed run!" he shouted as he took of sprinting with the blade in his hand. As he ran up the branches a group of spiders laid ahead of him.

The spiders spit out a strings of webbing on order to bind Ragna, but the Reaper simply slid to the side dodging the attacks. He then leapt over the spiders attack while flipping in midair before bringing his blade down upon one spiders, finishing it. The other three lunged for Ragna to bite him for paralysis, but he simply performed a massive roundhouse slash and finished all of the spiders off at once. Ragna didn't even stop to catch his breath as he kept sprinting along the tree lines.

After running for a few more moments he came across a group of five large squirrels, these monsters looked feral and let out a large shriek as the eyed the Reaper. _'Note to self, if I ever get back to my world, never have Makoto find out about this,'_ Ragna thought as he dodged one of the squirrels lunges at his face and grabbed the beasts tail and spun it into its friends, knocking them of the tree branch and letting them fall to their doom. He them took the squirrel he'd used as a weapon and threw it into the air. As the squirrel fell back towards him Ragna stuck his sword in the air with precise timing to impale the creature and causing it to shatter.

"Glad I'm killing programs," Ragna said to himself before he sprinted off again. "Killing Beastkin would leave a horrible taste in my mouth."

As Ragna continued to sprint he noticed that along his current path was a large monster made completely out of wood and covered in thorns. While he could easily deal with it, it would still take some time and end probably end up being a big waste of time.

"Nope!" Ragna yelled as he leapt from the branch with all of his strength into the air. He was over the chasm, so falling would result in certain death for the Reaper, but he was rapidly approaching another branch. He stabbed his sword into the wood to keep himself from falling and to use it as a foothold. He then leapt so that he'd be on top of the branch and took his sword with him. As soon as he landed he took off running once again.

He soon came across a group of _Autumn Elves_ taking up position in order to fight him. _"_ _ **Carnage-!**_ _"_ Ragna lunged forward and carved one of the elves with his giant initial slash finishing it off instantly. _'_ _ **Scissors!**_ ' he finished sending a giant wave of darkness out, finishing the rest of monsters and absorbing some of the glass there had been destroyed in. Ragna continued to run until he came across the end of the dungeon. Not a dead end, mind you, just a giant door.

(End theme)

"Looks like I was right that this would be the floor dungeon," Ragna said to himself as he finally came to a stop. He looked at the path behind him, he'd spent a lot of time running to get here, so it would be a shame if he didn't at least try to get a look at the boss. Getting map data would be great, but judging this thing's strength would be better. This would speed the guilds' planning immeasurably.

Ragna forced opened the door and walked inside the room he was in now was very similar to the room he'd been earlier when he'd fought the _Boar King_ , except now the room was aligned with trees on the border. The boss wasn't anywhere inside the room which concerned Ragna. Keeping his sword at the Reaper the Reaper slowly walked inside, taking cautious steps as he made his way to the center of the room.

 _'Where's the effing boss?'_ he thought to himself as he carefully observed his surroundings. _'It has to be around here somewhere…'_ It was then that Ragna realized the simplicity of the trap he was in.

(Cue Arakune's Theme _Thin RED Line_ )

He let out a cocky grin as he charged his sword and threw it at the ceiling. There was shrill shrike as his target hit the boss, a giant spider with red hour glasses on it, holding itself on the ceiling using webs. Even with it upside down, Ragna could read the name of the monster without difficulty, _'_ The _Arachnid Dame.'_

"Yeah, I've been hunted by a guy who can melt into the ground and assassins who could turn invisible. Hanging on the ceiling isn't going to get you shit with me," Ragna said, feeling bored as the spider started to climb down the walls. When it managed to make it to the floor it spat out some liquid at Ragna which he nimbly dodged while catching his sword as it returned to him. From the hiss the puddles of the stuff were giving of, it seemed that he'd just dodged acid. "Well that's neat, what else can you do? Need to know your secrets so the guilds can take you down."

The spider opened its mouth and sprayed again, this time webbing. Ragna barely needed to move in order to dodge to the side. "Oh wow, you can shoot out webbing too, just like all of your spider friends. But you're aims terrible, almost like you weren't trying to… hit me." Taking a quick glance back Ragna could see the entrance that he'd come through and that it was covered in thick webs. There was a health bar above him indicating it could be broken, but it would still take time.

"So you're not letting me leave," Ragna examined. "Well… I guess that just means you're trapped in here with me!" The _Arachnid Dame_ lunged forward in an attempt to claw Ragna with its legs, Ragna merely shoved one of the legs away with his sword while flipping over the other one. " ** _Gauntlet-!"_** he shouted as his leg was encompassed in darkness and struck down on the spider's head. **_"-Hades!"_** Ragna finished as he kicked upwards with his other leg and jumped off of the spider. His attack had done more damage than he thought it would have.

It then came close to Ragna, trying to trap him between its many legs and bite the Reaper to poison him. Ragna had to swing his sword rapidly to counter attack most of the leg attacks, but a few of the attacks got through and managed to strike the Reaper;s torso. As the spider reeled its fangs back for a lethal bite, Ragna simply impaled the blade into the creature. He let go of the sword and took a step back.

 ** _"Hell's Fang!"_** he shouted as he stuck the sword by its hilt and caused it to damage the _Arachnid Dame_ even further. Just as the creature started to scream, Ragna forced the blade out before using his most powerful attack. **_"Carnage Scissors!"_** The first slash met the creature's head, while the second slash and the wave of darkness with it were enough to send it flying back into the wall and fully heal Ragna.

The creature retreaded and began climbing up the wall and quickly reached its web at the top. It then sent a spray of acid down to Ragna, which the Reaper dodged with ease once again.

"Hey big guy… girl, whatever. Word of advice: aim. Either that or strategize. Here, I'll show you!" Ragna once again through his sword into the air, but now instead of hitting the spider, it cut the webs supporting it. As the spider fell, it was again pierced by Ragna's blade as it returned to the Reaper.

Ragna caught the blade in his hand before roaring and leaping into the air, slashing through the spider on his way. The boss hit the floor with a crash while Ragna was in midair. Ragna set his sword out and brought it down as powerfully as he roared. The blade cut the monsters head, sealing the final blow. The spider shattered and the ' _CONGRATULATIONS_ ' message appeared.

(End theme)

"Well… that happened," Ragna said himself as he took a look at what he'd obtained. _'Blade of the Spider Knight… Not very strong, but it has the chance to poison or paralyze my target. I'm don't think I'll end up using it, but I need to keep it away from player killers.'_ Ragna started making his way to the newly opened door to head to the next level. _'Guess the map data's more or less useless now, and I can't sell info on a boss that doesn't exist… I still got a lot of XP and Col though, so all in all a successful mission.'_

* * *

*One Hour Later- Floor Seven _Holy Dragon Alliance's Front Lines Base_ *

Drake, Wyvern, and Wyrm, all sat at the strategy table, taking what they'd gained from the reconnaissance that their members had performed.

"So we're saying that chances are best that the boss dungeon is at the end of one of these three paths. That at least narrows it down, but we still need to map out the dungeon and observe the boss in order to develop a strategy."

"Indeed, Drake," Wyrm said to his brother. "And I'd think it'd be best if we acted quickly. We haven't been able to be responsible to clear a level since floor four and it seems that the players are starting to go to _The Knights of the Blood Oath_ and _Dark Shield._ If we want to keep our standings we need to take this floor."

"You worry too much," Wyvern told his fellow commander. "We're only two days in and the other guilds are still trying to adapt to the monsters on this floor. If anything, I'd say that we have more than enough time."

It was then that one of the messengers came in, breathing heavily as if he'd just been running. He ran over to Wyrm (since he was the official leader) and whispered the message in his ear as his superior drank from his goblet. After listening for a few moments, Wyrm's pupils shrunk and his drink fell to the floor.

"Are you sure?!" he demanded. "When did this happen!?"

The messenger could only shake his head, not sure any more than what he was told. Wyrm was breathing heavily, his rage threatening to take over, before be grabbed underneath the table and flipped it with all of his might, sending papers, maps and drinks flying.

" **WHO!?** " he demanded the messenger, shouting at the top of his lungs.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own BlazBlue or Sword Art Online.**

 **Well, this was an interesting chapter if I do say so myself. There was less talking and more Ragna kicking ass. I sort of felt like doing this as a break from the Grim Reaper gaining members and just giving him a chance to show off.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Blackace70: Kibaou was an actual SAO character, but he was basically just there so people would hate him. I won't be showing him much in my series, but Ragna will make his share of friends.**

 **Speedking535: Black Cats huh? He might do that later, but it'll be a much different encounter if he does.**

 **Animeandgamerlover2: Glad to see you're enjoying it, might want to give me a few more details.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Yeah, Diabel had a lot of potential to become an interesting character, SO I GAVE HIM A GUILD! Kibaou was easy to write for, but not very fun. I'd rather write about more complex characters. As for an OC, I might come up with something… or leave Ragna single. I may just leave it to a vote or something.**

 **Follow, Favorite, and Review!**

 **Ciao!**


	6. A Rebel in the Order

_Blade V: A Rebel in the Order_

(Not a battle theme, but I'd suggest cueing _Kingdom Hearts: Traverse Town_ *Not the fight theme*)

Only a few days had passed since Ragna had single-handedly cleared the seventh floor. He'd continued to work hard to continue to gain strength, as a result he'd improved to level up to twenty-seven. He hadn't gained back any of his classic abilities, but he'd been able to improve has stats decently enough, so it was enough for him.

Currently he was on the fourth floor which was considered the merchant floor. The fourth level had been known for being a rock wasteland, however an area was fairly flat and was registered in the game as a large safe zone, so many of the people there had set up large tents in order to use as their own shops. The people here offered prices better than the NPC shopkeepers and there was also trading allowed in order to have easier access of goods.

Ragna finally found the red tent he was looking for and entered. "Yo!" he called, seeing the familiar face.

"Well I'll be damned," Agil said with a chuckle. "So our hero and savior decides to grace the less worthy will his great presence."

"What the hell brought this on? You never brown-nosed before man." Now that he thought about it, the odd time Ragna did see people some of them had run away from him while others plainly gawked. "Did something happen that I should know about?"

"I don't know," Agil said sarcastically, with a grin. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that someone managed to clear a guide without any of the big guilds finding out about." His grin didn't decrease as he heard Ragna's gulp. "You're just too predictable man, so how can I help you?"

"I was hoping I could give something to you for safe keeping," Ragna said as he opened his menu and brought out the blade he'd obtained from the boss on floor seven. "I got this as a… pretty rare drop. It's not too strong, but the effects make it plain obvious that it's an assassin's tool. If you want to give it to someone you trust that's your business, just leave me out of it."

Agil checked the sword's stats before sighing to himself. "You're right, this can poison or paralyze you. If I could destroy this thing I would, but I'll hold onto this for now. You know that weapons like this will eventually become common right?"

"I know, but let's see if we can delay that for a while. Any player deaths we can prevent, yeah?"

"I guess," Agil told him. "So how's your weaponry and armor looking?"

"Still looking for my sword materials, but I've got everything I need for my jacket," Ragna told him as he unequipped his jacket and handed it to Agil. "Here's my jacket, and here…" he grabbed a couple of items out of his storage and handed them to Agil. "…these are the elven leathers that I needed to increase it."

"Cool, let's see what I can do with this," Agil put the coat and materials together and took out a pin and needle and poked the coat. As soon as he did that the materials disappeared in a bright flash of light and there was just Ragna's coat. "Glad this crap's so simple, but you should know this is the last upgrade I'm going to be able to do for a while."

"How come?" Ragna asked as he reequipped the coat. "I can still look for materials can't I?"

"I'm not doubting that you can find them, but I can't work with them. My leatherworking and smith skill levels are getting too low for your items, and I've been focusing more on combat and appraisal. Sorry, man."

"It's cool, you're just trying to run a business. Speaking of which, how have things been going?"

"As well as expected," Agil said before putting the sword Ragna had given him in his storage. "There's been a lot of competition recently, so I'll have to make do with customers that even come in here. If they don't pay for anything, I count it as a loss."

"Enough with the song and dance," Ragna said, giving Agil a friendly grin. "How much do ya want for the coat?"

"Normal payment too much to ask?" Agil asked with a friendly chuckle.

"You've been helping me out by giving me upgrades as long as I have the materials, so how about triple?" Ragna offered as he opened his menu to pay.

"Deal," Agil said with a chuckle as a set of footsteps was heard entering the tent. "Looks like we have company."

"Actually, I'm just here for Ragna," the girl said with a smile. Ragna turned to face the girl. She had orange hair, was wearing red and white armor, and carried a rapier. "It's been a while, hasn't it Ragna?"

"Uh… I guess?" he told her, somewhat confused as he finished paying. "Who are you exactly?"

Immediately the woman's expression changed from happy to see him to irked and scowling. "It's me! You know, ASUNA!?"

"Oh," Ragna said with a sheepish expression. "Well, this is my first time seeing you without the cloak, so… sorry."

"You could have at least recognized me by my voice," Asuna said with an annoyed huff. "But I'm here to talk to you about a job. My guild needs some help and you're the most qualified for it."

"Your guild?" Ragna asked as he noticed the armor Asuna was wearing. "Isn't that the armor for the 'Knights of the Blood Oath?"

"Yep, you're looking at the second-in-command!" Asuna said with a triumphant smile.

"Guess that makes you pretty important," Ragna said with a casual shrug. "But I can't waste time with a job right now, I've got other crap to take care of."

"Like soloing dungeons by yourself?" Asuna asked with a slight glare. The Reaper let out a sigh, how many people knew it had been him? "We don't have anything official to say, but it's pretty obvious that you're the most reasonable choice outside the guilds. A lot of people look up to you for that, you know?"

"Like I care, I'm just a lone wolf. Plus, I don't need anyone licking my boots," Ragna said as he made his way past Asuna to the tent entrance and lifted the flap.

"Well, what if you could help everyone survive this game while getting paid handsomely for it?" Asuna suggested.

Ragna paused as he was about to leave. "I'm listening."

"Their tents on this floor, I'll tell you on the way," Asuna assured him. "Good seeing you again Agil!"

"Uh, yeah, you too Asuna," Agil said as Asuna proceeded to drag Ragna and tell him to hurry. "Man, don't I get all of the weird customers?"

Outside with Ragna, Asuna had just finished explain the basics of the job to him. Ragna was more than a little surprised she'd been coming to him for help.

"A training exercise?" Ragna asked. "What kind of job is that?"

"One that I'm going to need your help with," Asuna told him. "Look, a couple of new members joined our guild and they don't exactly have the stats OR the skill to be the most competent players. So we're going to show them how we work to clear the floors."

"I'm no teacher," Ragna told Asuna. "You'd be better off with someone else."

"Oh, come on!" she demanded with a pout on her lips. "Look, this job will be easy for you. I'll teach the players about strategy and abilities, you just need to slay a couple of monsters and show off. Okay?"

"Tch," Ragna grumbled under his breath. "How much is this job offering?"

"Five thousand col, you get half in advance. Sound fair?"

"I'll accept the job, but do you really need my help for something this small? Your guild should be more than qualified for this and I'd think that people look up to you enough as it is, Miss _Second-in-Command_."

Asuna sighed. "Part of it's because the guild voted on it. If there's a vote in favor in something, it's most likely for the good of the guild. The reason my I wanted you was because were demanding I find someone important. The guild wants to keep up its imagery, and if they find that someone with a powerful reputation and they work with us we'll have a great boost to our reputation."

"So I'm here just to make your guild look good? Super…" Ragna cricked his neck. "By the way, do you know any good blacksmiths? Agil's been working with my weapons and armor for now, but he's going to be focusing more on shop keeping and appraisal."

"I know a pretty good blacksmith, she's on this floor so I can introduce you two to one another after this job's done. She's been able to help me out with my armor and rapier, so I can guarantee her work. Anyways, it looks like we're here."

(Change them to _Final Fantasy X: Temple Band the Temple Player_ )

The _Knights of the Blood Oath_ had quite possibly the largest tent on the plain. It had obvious white and red colors to reflect the guide and had on large tent that had several smaller tents added to it. The reason most people were here now was because not every floor had a city in it, and this was actually the closest comfortable safe zone to the front lines.

As Ragna walked inside the tent with Asuna, several of the members became silent as they stared at the Reaper. Ragna wasn't used to his new found fame, but it didn't beat his previous fame of being the most wanted man in history by much. He ignored most of the conversation as he and Asuna made their way to the back of the tents where Heathcliff was seated behind an oak desk.

"So this is the man you had talked about Asuna," Heathcliff said as he rose and held out his hand for Ragna to shake. "Heathcliff, commander of the _Knights of the Blood Oath._ "

"Ragna," the Grim Reaper said as he shook the commander's hand. "Solo player."

"Yes, I'm aware," Heathcliff said. "I've also heard recounts of your victory over this first floor boss. You managed to save quite a few people. Hopefully with your help today you can save quite a few more. I take it you've explained the job to him Asuna?"

"Yes sir, he knows what we'll be doing and we're prepared to head out once you give the word."

Ragna was a little surprised at the way Asuna was acting now. Earlier she'd been a solo player who hadn't wanted to interact with anyone. Now she spoke with both respect and authority that he hadn't expect from someone like her. _'I guess suggesting she joined a guild was a smart move,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'She's grown considerably as both a player and a person.'_

"You'll depart with the trainees within an hour," Heathcliff assured them. "But Ragna, we may have to make some changes to your… attire."

"What?" Ragna asked as he examined at his clothes a bit confused. "What the hell's wrong with it? It's even red, that's your guild's main color isn't it?"

"It is, but I once hosted a training exercise with an outsider before. From what I'm told, the trainees didn't listen to him because they considered themselves above him, considering he was a member of a nameless guild and they were part of the three largest guilds."

"They'll listen to me," Ragna said with a glare, clearly unconvinced.

"I'd ask that you simply humor me with this," Heathcliff asked crossing his arms. "All you'd be doing is temporarily wearing a set of our armor to let them know that you have the authority of the guild behind you and you're the one in charge… along with Asuna of course."

Ragna was silent for a moment before a small smirk appeared on his face. "Ten thousand."

"Excuse me?" Heathcliff asked, slight shook appearing on his face for the first time since Ragna had seen him.

"You heard me. Ten thousand col, and I'll play dress up for you."

Heathcliff looked at Ragna in surprise before letting out a small chuckle. "Very well, I'll add the money to your fee. Asuna, would you mind showing Ragna here to the storage room to get him situated?"

Asuna gave a respectful nod to her superior as she started walking off. "Let's go," she said to the Reaper curtly. When she and Ragna were outside of Heathcliff hearing she glared at her old partner. "What was that?" she demanded. "That rate just to wear one of our sets of armor is robbery!"

"You told me yourself, the guild wants me to work with them so that they can bolster their reputation. If they want it that badly I'm not just going to give it to them for free. Having me look and act the part of one of their members costs extra."

"What happened to you Ragna?" Asuna demanded. "Back on the first floor you saved everyone's life without even expecting anything in return. Did you demand that Diabel pay you for him to give him the potion?"

"No he didn't," Ragna told her. "He was too ashamed and wanted to die. I didn't give him that choice… Plus, Heathcliff runs a guild, ten thousand won't even put a dent in his wallet."

Asuna stared at Ragna for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Sometimes I can't decide if you're the most caring man in this game or the greediest mercenary."

Ragna gave a small smile. "Neither, I'm just the Grim Reaper."

"First you call yourself Ragna the Bloodedge, and now you're calling yourself the Grim Reaper. How many names do you really go by?"

"All of them, it helps with the ego," Ragna said sarcastically with a chuckle. Asuna tried to keep her glare, but eventually joined in with a giggle of her own. "So you can laugh."

"Oh be quite you," Asuna said, but was betrayed by the playfulness on how she said it. After walking a bit further they came into the equipment tent. "This armor is available to everyone in the guild, so feel free to pick what you want, I'll meet you at the west entrance when you're ready."

Ragna took a look at his options and analyzed the stats that they gave to the wearer. After a while he managed to find an odd suit of armor that looked like he could stomach wearing.

*One Hour Later- The West Entrance*

* * *

(Cue _Final Fantasy VII Main Theme_ )

Asuna was at the West Entrance with the new recruits for her guild. These people had just joined recently because they wanted to become part of the top guild. They were all considered fairly fresh with levels between twelve and sixteen. Some of them seemed pretty cocky and were sending flirty looks her way while others were trying to deal with pre-battle nerves.

 _'How did I get singled out for this job?'_ she thought to herself with a groan. "Thanks for waiting everyone. As soon as my partner gets here we'll head out."

"Please," one of the haughty guys scoffed, he was highest leveled person in his group. "I doubt we'll even need him. With the seven of us we can easily wreak anything on this level. You might as well sit back and watch sweet cheeks."

 _'SWEET CHEEKS!?'_ Asuna thought with disgust as a tic mark appeared on her forehead. "Regardless, my order still stands. We'll head out once he gets here and not before."

"Pfft, waste of time if you ask me," he complained.

"No one was," Ragna's curt voice came from behind them.

Asuna turned to face her friend and was surprised with the outfit he was wearing, with all of the gasps she heard it seemed she wasn't the only one. Ragna's outfit was a mainly white, but with a metal belt and red designs in the middle. In order to compensate for the decrease to his defense he'd also grabbed a red platted head piece. Since the armor didn't have a way of carrying his sword for him, Ragna was forced to carry _Blood-Scythe_ in his right hand at all times.

(If any of you don't have a clear idea on what Ragna looks like, go onto google images and type in 'Order Sol'. That's the equipment that Ragna's wearing.)

"Am I late?" Ragna asked Asuna. She shook her head. "Good, just thought I'd get the hand of fighting in this as opposed to my regular clothing. Ready to get started?"

"Definitely," she told Ragna before turning to the rest of the members. "Our training course for today is going to take place in three stages. First, we're going to travel to a safe zone about three miles away from here. You'll be responsible for all of the fights along the way, but we'll jump in if you have difficulties. This will be a good way to evaluate your strength. Once we get to the safe zone we'll hold some sparring matches in order to give you advice and increase your skill. After that, we're heading into a nearby dungeon and you'll test will be to get to the end with minimal help from me or my partner. Any questions?"

To Asuna's surprise almost every member of the group raised their hand. She hadn't thought that her explanation would be that confusing, it had been pretty straight forward.

"Any questions that aren't about the rumors of me clearing floor seven?" Ragna voiced. All of the hands went down. "Let's go then."

 **Authors Note: I don't own anything.**

 **I may or may not include a chapter with Ragna and Asuna training these jokers… I might leave it up to you. If not, I'll just skip to him partnering up with someone else.**

 **As for the whole Order Sol get up… It was just a whim that I sort of went out on… If anyone can make fanart of that and send me the link that'd be great. Until next time!**

 **Ciao!**


	7. Teaching a Lesson

_Blade VI: Teaching a Lesson_

"All right, we're here," Asuna said to the trainees as they all entered the safe zone. They were all feeling a little worse for wear and they weren't even getting to the hard part yet. If anything the trainees had just gone through the warm-up. "Rest up for now, I'll let you know when we're about to head out."

A few of them flopped to the ground right then and there while others let out breaths of relief. A couple of trainees were talking with each other while that one annoying guy from earlier tried to boost how he could never let something like this get the better of him. Ragna meanwhile had impaled _Blood-Scythe_ in the ground and was sitting on a flat rock observing the trainees. He was still wearing the new get-up he'd grabbed from the guild armory as per his agreement with Heathcliff and was slowly getting used to the idea of wearing something other than his red coat as long as it covered his _BlazBlue_ well enough.

"This isn't too bad, right?" Asuna questioned the Reaper as she sat beside him.

"Are you talking about working with a guild or the job itself? Because I have different opinions." Ragna questioned as he continued observing the trainees.

"All right, working with the guild then," Asuna clarified.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be, even if I have to wear this thing to get Heathcliff happy," he told her. "Of course, I'm working with one of the few people here that I actual trust enough to talk to."

"Come on, you have other friends beside me right?" she inquired. The Reaper shook his head. "You're kidding…"

"I'm not. Beside you Klein, Agil, and Silica I don't talk to anyone. I stick to myself and I get to keep all of the rewards and experience for myself without having to worry about anyone."

Asuna sighed. "I've got to get you some friends. The whole 'lone wolf' thing was alright when you first started out, but you're letting that stop you from meeting anyone or letting them lessen the load you're carrying. Surely you've got someone you care about, friends, loved ones, family?"

Ragna was silent for a moment. He'd had a few friends in the world that he'd at least wanted to see live. Last he'd heard about them most of them were alive… but then there were the ones that hadn't made it. As for his loved ones, there'd never really been anyone he was exactly intimate with, there had been a war going on and he never really cared about matchmaking at all to begin with. When it came to his family he had his deranged brother whose only goal in life was to kill him, and Saya who he'd…

Ragna's final image from his world flashed before his eyes once again, causing him to wince slightly. _The liquid spay of crimson, the tension on his sword changing as he cut through flesh, the look of agony on the face on the person he'd once loved and called his sister. Her last word was said in a tone of deep emotion, pain, and betrayal as she perished while he held her protectively in his arms… brother._ It was too much, and he'd been unable to sleep a several nights because of that one final and haunting image from the world that had been the equivalent of hell for him continued to plague his dreams even here.

"I don't like to talk about it," Ragna finally said, answering Asuna's earlier question.

"Fine…" Asuna said, disappointed that she hadn't been able to learn a little more about the enigma known as the Grim Reaper. "But what about the trainees?"

"This job is pretty simple," Ragna told her. "But we're not going to make it to the boss room, they're not ready for this. It takes too long for them to beat opponents and they don't seem to mind if their ally is in the danger zone for too long."

"I've noticed that too," Asuna told him. "They've already taken too much damage and used up most of the healing items that they're allowed in this trial. If we let this go on for any longer we have the potential threat of losing one of them… Any ideas?"

Ragna sighed as he thought for a moment, realizing this was part of his job. "I've got one, and I'm pretty sure they'll all learn a lesson or two from this." Ragna got off the rock and left his sword in the ground. "All right, everyone gather round, there's been a change of plans."

All eight of the players came forward, most of them looking nervous for what the next test would bring while some looked a bit smug. It didn't make a difference, what Ragna had planned would be used to change all of them, hopefully for the better.

"All right, what I'm about to present to you is your final test. If you can get one hit on me, anywhere at all, you pass." Ragna could see the surprise from some of the new recruits, others looked at each other with horror because they were about to be kicked out of the guild, even that one cocksure guy from earlier was rethinking his earlier attitude.

Asuna simply looked at Ragna in her observation, trying to figure out where the Reaper was going with this. She figured that it wasn't her place to question what he was doing, but this almost looked like he was simply showing off. After thinking to herself for a moment she noticed that one of the trainees, a young girl, was rushing at Ragna from the side in an attempt to catch him off guard. As she swung her sword, Ragna back-stepped and avoided the attack without effort. He then slammed his first into the girl's back and sent her flying a few feet.

Everyone let out a gasp as the girl slowly struggled to get to her feet. They then looked at Ragna like he was some sort of demon, which in a way, he kind of was.

(Cue Street Fighter IV _Guile's Theme_ )

"Come on," Ragna said with a sigh. "None of you are able to feel pain and you won't lose HP because it's a safe zone. Then again…" he cricked his knuckles and got into a ready stance. "You'll still have the feeling of getting sent through the air."

One of the members charged at Ragna, this time hoping to impale him with his lance and mind his distance. Ragna shifted his upper body as he avoided the lance point before grabbing the weapon.

"Predictable!" he shouted as he gave a strong tug on the lance, bringing its wielder stumbling forward before upper cutting him in the jaw, again sending him flying. Another trainee attempted to get Ragna by swinging at him overhead with a greataxe, but Ragna managed to catch the attack by grabbed the attacker's arms. "Too slow!" Ragna yelled as he threw the man over his shoulders and had him crash into another trainee who was preparing to attack him.

The only other female trainee came at Ragna with a dagger and attempted to hit Ragna with several rapid slashes through one of her skills, but her weapon range and position was setting her up to fail. "Don't be afraid to get close to your opponent," Ragna reminded as he delivered a roundhouse kick to the girl's stomach and sent her sprawling back.

The arrogant one from earlier tried to cut Ragna in the waist with his greatsword, but Ragna simply jumped to avoid the attack before slamming his foot down on the guys face and planting him it on the ground. Ragna would have kept his foot there for a moment to teach the guy a lesson, but in that moment he felt like someone he'd really rather not be associated with. He removed his foot and noticed that the last two weren't about to approach him. By the time they got their swords into a ready position he'd already closed this distance and blasted them both back with just his fists.

"And that about sums it up," Ragna said as he noticed that the girl he'd knocked down first was coming back for another sneak attack while his back was turned. Ragna performed a back-flip, dodge the attack while kicking the back of his attacker's head while he was in mid-air, sending her sprawling into another trainee.

(End Theme)

"Let's stop this here," Ragna said as landed, using his hands to help balance his fall. "So... what's the difference between the monsters that you've been fighting and me?"

"Easy," one of the guys said as he slowly got up. "You're a lot stronger than they were."

"True, but that wasn't the answer I was looking for," Ragna told him. "It's not so much my strength as it was my skill. Most of you attacked me without even thinking to use any of your weapon skills and look where it got you."

"So you're trying to tell us that we should be using our skills more?" one of the players asked.

"No, what I'm saying is that you need to use everything you've got." Ragna sighed, this was a lot harder than Jubei had made this look. "When you were fighting monsters on the way here, what did you do? You tried to rush the monsters and hog all of the attention from yourself. You have several people, why not try flanking the damn things. I know you want to look good, but if you're working in a guild you should be able to work with each other, that's what being in a guild means anyways. I may be a solo player, but I had to rely on people to get to where I am today... I had to rely on them a lot."

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Then the man who was trying to play himself up by boasts and claims made his way up to his feet. "Do you mind if we do the test another day? I want to head back to another floor and… rethink what I'm doing. I'm done being the arrogant solo player."

Looking around Ragna noticed everyone had the look of an agreement on their face as they showed an understanding for working together. Ragna gave a small smirk as he slowly clapped his hands for applause, surprising everyone there, including Asuna. "Congrats, you all pass."

"Wait, what?" one of the trainees exclaimed in surprise. "But I thought you wanted us to get a hit on you! You just finished kicking us around!"

"I did," Ragna said as he grabbed his sword out of the ground. "But the test wasn't you could beat me, it was whether or not you've learned your lesson. I'd still recommend you all go practice, but in my opinion, just realizing your mistake is enough to pass."

All of the players looked at each other unsurely before they gave a quick smile or a quick cheer as they realized that they'd gotten into the top guild in the game. After the celebration ended, they all used their teleport crystals and headed for the second floor. There was only one person left, and that was the former cocksure guy from earlier.

"You're obviously Ragna the Bloodedge, right?" he asked the Grim Reaper.

"Yeah, that's me," Ragna told him. "What's it to you?"

"Well my name's Dalton. You might want to watch your back because I'll be catching up to you before long." The way he said this wasn't arrogant, he wasn't putting Ragna beneath him. He was just saying it with confidence, now he had a goal to pursue.

"Huh," Ragna said with a small chuckle. "I look forward to it."

Dalton then followed the example of his new guild mates and activate his teleport crystal, ready to begin some strategy training and leaving Ragna alone with Asuna.

"Sorry, you probably should've been the one to make that call," Ragna apologized to Asuna. He then noticed that the second-in-command was smiling at him. "What's with that look?"

"Just noticing that you're a lot more caring than I'd thought," Asuna said with a small smile. "Maybe you don't need my help to make friends, you can be inspiring enough on your own."

"I'm not inspiring, just right," he told her as he grabbed _Blood-Scythe_. "Let's get back to Heathcliff so I can get paid, I'm already getting tired of everyone staring at me in this thing."

"I think it's a good look for you," Asuna told him.

"I'm not joining your guild if that's what you're getting at," Ragna told her.

"Just telling the truth. Hey, after we check in with Heathcliff do you want to head back to the first floor and grab dinner?"

"If you want," Ragna said shrugging. "Do you just want to meet me at the restaurant and give me the payment there? I can find a table for the two of us at the restaurant in the Town of Beginnings."

"I'll see you there then," Asuna said with a smile as she used a teleport crystal to get back to her guild.

Ragna was about to walk away when a certain thought hit him like a ton of bricks. "Wait… she isn't asking me on a date, is she? Nah, that can't be it. I'm 26 and she's what, sixteen, seventeen, maybe eighteen at most. Plus, who could fall for an asshole like me?" he said while giving himself a condescending smile and shaking his head.

* * *

*TimeSkip*

(Cue Fire Emblem _But Fredrick, It's Nearly Dark!_ )

Ragna was sitting in the restaurant in the Town of Beginnings. He'd changed his _'Knights of the Blood Oath'_ outfit for his original red jacket and black hakama. While Ragna admitted it hadn't been all bad to wear a new uniform, it just felt natural to wear the coat he'd been using since he first struck out against the NOL.

Come to think of it, he'd gotten the coat from his old teacher, Jubei. That man-cat had given a lot to Ragna, much more than just a badass coat and sword, he'd been like a father to him in a pretty rough time in his life, even though he was actually the Black Beast that Jubei had fought to destroy during the Dark War. Even if he made his way back to his own world, Ragna doubted that he could ever repay Jubei, even if he tried a thousand times over.

' _Is there even a way to get back to my own world?'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'_ _The only thing that I can gather is that Izanami managed to banish me right when I finished her off. That would mean the only way I could get out of here would be to encounter some other form of a god… but I don't know that it there even is a being like that or if I could find it. At the same time, what would I go back to?'_

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Asuna walking towards him. She was still wearing her normal guild's armor, but Ragna hadn't really thought that she'd wear anything else.

"Hey," he said, not really sure what else to say.

"Hey," she said giving him a small smile as she sat down. "Did you order yet?"

"Nah, figured I'd wait. Trying to be polite for the first time in my life," he informed.

Asuna giggled. "It seems kind of forced for you Ragna."

"Fair enough," Ragna scoffed. "So what are you in the mood for?"

"Not sure," Asuna said as she looked over the menu. "Hey, looks like they have salmon on the menu now. It looks pretty pricy, but I think we can deserve a treat."

"If that's what you want," Ragna told her as he scanned further down the list. "Huh, they also have steak cuts. Might as well get it while I can."

It was just then that one of the waitresses decided to show up. "Did the two of you decide what you wanted?"

"Yes, I'll have the salmon," Asuna told her. "Could I also get some grilled asparagus to go with that?"

"Sure thing, Miss Lightning Flash," the waitress said to her. "And you sir?"

"I'll have the steak, medium rare, and a side of mashed potatoes," Ragna told her.

"And to drink?" the waitress asked.

"I'll just take some iced tea," Asuna told her.

"And I'll take some Earl Grey," Ragna said. ' _Never thought I'd actually miss the Rabbit's tea. Who knew?'_

"That'll be forty coal for the miss and sixty for you sir," the waitress told them. Asuna was about to pay via the pop-up, but Ragna put his hand up to stop her.

"I'll pay the hundred for both of us," he said to the waitress. His personal bill increased by forty col as he paid for the food.

"I'll be back with your food in a moment then, enjoy." The maid then left leaving the two of them.

"You seem to be in a giving mood," Asuna said to Ragna, looking more than a little bemused. "Still trying to be a polite?"

"Not at all, Miss Lightning Flash," Ragna said with his own smirk. "Where the hell did you get that name anyways?"

"I got it when I defeated the second floor boss," Asuna told him. "That was also when Heathcliff found me and recruited me into his guild. Few floors later they made me the second-in-command. They called me Lightning Flash for my quick rapier strikes and the name just stuck to me."

"Huh, well I guess that makes sense. I mean, beating a boss is already pretty memorable."

"Just like your name, Ragna the Bloodedge," Asuna told him. "I've actually heard a lot of the things some of the other gamers have been saying about you."

"Let me guess," Ragna began as their tea arrived. He nodded thanks to the waitress as she set Asuna's drink. "I'm being called a hacker, an uncaring asshole, and my name's the source of fear across the game." Ragna took a sip of his tea. It was already the perfect temperature, but the taste paled in comparison to the tea he'd once gotten from Rachel. Not bad all the same.

"Actually, nothing could be further from the truth," Asuna said, looking out the window. "It's true that a few people may see you like that, but most of those people are the ones hanging around Kibaou. Everyone else sees you as some sort of hero who took a man who was about to give up on the brink of death and transformed him into one of the top guild leaders. And given the fact that you were able to beat the boss and the rumor that you soloed floor seven, you've got quite a few people who think you'll be the one to clear the game."

"Tch, that theory is just as wrong as the first one," Ragna said as he crossed his arms, a scowl forming on his face. "I'm not a hero, if I was I wouldn't have been forced into this death game in the first place."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asuna questioned, her eyes narrowing in an analytical focus.

"None of your business," Ragna said, blocking Asuna's attempts to learn about the Reaper. The second-in-command let out a sigh.

"You know, if you want people to trust you, you'll have to open up to them eventually," Asuna advised him.

"Maybe, but this is something that I'll have to overcome on my own," Ragna told her. "Plus it's fitting that I travel alone. Solo player, remember?"

"And now you're using that as an excuse to avoid making friends," Asuna sighed. "Look, I promised to tell you about the blacksmith that I have to work on my inventory. Well she's a good friend of mine, just promise me that you won't be a standoffish ass about it and try to be friendly to her."

"...Isn't that a bit harsh?" Ragna asked Asuna, thinking he wasn't responsible for all of the blame he was getting. "All right fine, I'll try to make friends, just don't expect me to become besties with someone overnight."

"Fine, her name is Liz and you'll find her in the south end of the fourth floor in one of the merchant tents with a sign in front of it. Just tell her that I sent you and she'll probably give you a discount."

"Got it," Ragna said as he sipped his tea again. "Hey, I heard about this dungeon on floor eight that no one has been able to clear yet. I heard that it isn't the floor dungeon, but do you want to team up and try to clear it tomorrow if you're not busy tomorrow?"

"Why Ragna," Asuna said with a somewhat fiendish smile. "You're not asking me on a date are you?" Ragna noticed a small gasp followed by the distant murmuring from the other people in the restaurant, most of them asking how some punk would try to date the legendary Asuna.

"Not a chance in hell," Ragna said before a knife was trust with force right in front of him. "What'd I say?!"

"Care to rephrase that?" Asuna said with a dangerous tone in her words.

 _'_ _And this is why I can't make friends...'_ Ragna thought to himself.

 **Author's Note: I don't own SAO, BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, or the selected music.**

 **Review Responses:**

 **SpeedKing535: I wasn't going to have him break them, but I think they've learned their lessons.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Well here's the chapter, hopefully it lives up to your expectations.**

 **Dread: Seems like something of an oxymoron.**

 **Ad: Order Sol costume was just an idea I came up with, but I like how it turned out.**

 **IdeaPerson1097: Yep, needless to say Ragna may be a bit more of a mercenary in this story, but I think it makes sense given his setting.**

 **Guest (1 &2): Sure, but I think Order Sol Ragna is a cool design (still waiting on that fan art).**

 **Sardine: He didn't show them reality by clearing a dungeon, but he still showed them hell.**

 **Finals are over! WOOO!**

 **See you next time guys! Ciao!**


	8. Unchanging

_Blade VII: Unchanging_

(Optional Background Music is Skyward Sword's _Skyloft)_

 _Floor 4: Tent Outpost_

"This looks like the place," Ragna said to himself as he observed the tent in front of him. The tent was a dark grey, indicating that it was probably a blacksmith shop. Outside there was a sign that said 'Lisbeth's Smith Shop.' Ragna was about to enter, but he still felt a bit unsure, especially after what had happened yesterday in the restaurant with Asuna.

 _'_ _If I hadn't been able to explain myself I'd probably have had silverware lodged in my forehead,'_ he thought to himself grimly. _'_ _Well, let's just hope that I don't screw anything up this time.'_

Inside the tent Ragna found a selection of weaponry on racks and sample armors on maniki8ns. There was a desk in the further end of the tent where a young woman with pink hair in a white dress was sitting. There was a picture in front of her, but Ragna couldn't tell what was on it. The woman seemed to have a friendly business smile on her face as Ragna walked in, seeming to be happy having a customer.

"Welcome to Lisbeth's Smith Shop," she said with a friendly tone. "Just browsing, or are you looking for something in particular?"

"I'm here for upgrades for my sword," Ragna said as he walked inside. "I just spent all day trying to get the materials I need for my sword, now I need someone to perform the upgrade. A friend of mine referenced this place to me, so here I am."

"Reference, huh?" Lisbeth said with some curiosity. While she knew that she was a great blacksmith, she also knew that she wasn't very well known in the world and had maybe ten customers in here entire career and a small group of regulars. "Who was it?"

"Asuna, she recommended you to me and told me not to be a complete ass to you... I promised only to try," Ragna said with a small chuckle. "Anyways, think you can help me?"

"I can definitely do upgrades, but each weapon has its own limits to how much it can be upgraded, so you might need a different base instead of attempting to do more upgrades. Mind if I see the sword?"

Ragna proceeded to hand _Blood-Scythe_ to Lisbeth. The Blacksmith stared at the blade with curiosity, observing the weapon. _'_ _I've never seen a weapon like this before,'_ she thought to herself. _'_ _Maybe this guy managed to get another sword with a custom design?'_ She used her appraisal skill to look over the weapon. _'_ _Blood-Scythe... Sounds like a pretty strange name... The current stats are pretty high, but let's see what the limits are...'_ She scanned down the description list, until she came across the section she was looking for, but once she did her eyes grey wide. _'_ _TOP TIER!?'_

"Something wrong?" Ragna asked, noticing the change in Lizbeth's face.

"How did you get this weapon!?" she demanded. "The way it's currently set, you can improve this weapon high enough that you'll never have to change the weapon's base! You could wield this weapon all the way to max level!"

"...I'm not sure how I ended up with it when I got here," Ragna decided. "It was an unique item that I started out with, same as my jacket. I don't know the exact details, but they were here when I got here." _'I never exactly lied, but I'm still covering up what I need to.'_

"I guess that makes you Ragna," Lisbeth said. The Reaper nodded. "You know, Asuna told me stories about that time when you two first teamed up. She made you seem like a total mystery, but now I see why. Anyways, do you have the three ingots of lizarian steel that you need to upgrade this weapon?"

"Yeah, here," Ragna said as he grabbed out the material and gave it to Lisbeth.

The blacksmith took the weapon and laid the needed material on top of it. She then proceeded to smack the metal with her mallet, creating sparks. After doing this for a few minutes, the blade and material glowed as the former absorbed the later.

"Huh," Lisbeth said as she struggled to lift the giant two-handed blade to observe it. "Normally when you upgrade a weapon there's always a minor change, but I'm not seeing any change in this one. Kind of a shame."

"I actually prefer it if it stayed the same, I've had this thing for a while so the sentimentality is definitely there," Ragna told her, apparently reflecting on his past. "Since I'm here, do you mind letting me know what I'm going to need to upgrade this thing again?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Lisbeth said, eager to learn more about the weapon. She tapped on the weapon with her index finger to notice the qualities. "Looks like what you're looking for is something called 'Electrum.' Think I might've heard about that material in real life, but there it was mainly used for jewelry, but it's more of an ancient material."

"At least I have some idea of where to find this," Ragna said as took _Blood-Scythe_ back and put it on his belt. "I heard someone say that they had gotten some of this after beating a monster in a floor eight dungeon."

"Floor eight huh?" Liz asked. "Isn't that floor considered the front lines since it's the highest opened dungeon? Sounds like it'll be a tough fight."

"Probably, but I've been through worse," Ragna said as he looked over his money amount. "What do I owe you for the upgrade and appraisal?"

"650 col, but I can lower that to 200 if you'll help me out with something," she told Ragna. The Reaper shrugged as he gestured for her to say what she was thinking. "I haven't gone on a journey since my old team decided to try and join one of the top guilds. I know I have a shop to run, but I want to see the outside world."

"So you want me to take you to the field," Ragna summarized. He was about to flat out reject her, but an image of a certain second-in-command with a knife to his face made him think otherwise. "I suppose, what floor were you thinking?"

"Floor eight, I just want to see what a solo player like you has to deal with on a regular basis."

"It's not a pretty thing to see," Ragna informed, being completely honest. "If you really want to do this I won't say no, but you need to realize that you're putting your life on the line more than you need to, especially if you're at a lower level."

"Hey, I can still get a lot of experience from blacksmithing!" Lisbeth argued back. "Look, I won't be a problem; if you come across a problem you really don't want to get me involved with I'll just stick to the back, okay?"

"All right, all right," Ragna groaned. "Listen Liz... Can I call you Liz?" The blacksmith shrugged. "I'll take you through one of the higher leveled dungeons, but can we do it tomorrow? It's getting late and I've already done my fair share of dungeon clearing today."

"Fine, then you'll pick me up here at 10 AM tomorrow?" Lisbeth asked, somewhat relieved that Ragna was willing to help her out.

"Yeah sure," Ragna sighed as gave Lisbeth the 200 col they'd agreed to. "Just don't keep me waiting, I'll head off without you if you're not ready."

"Don't worry about me, I can meet a deadline, I always do," Lisbeth told him with a confident smile. "Remember, 10 AM sharp!"

 _'_ _Why do I get the feeling that I'm making a big mistake?'_ Ragna thought as he left the tent. _'_ _At least I won't have Asuna threatening to stab me with a dinner knife... After this though, I've got to stick to the front lines and keep myself from any distractions. Everyone in this game has been in here for a month and a half and we're only done with seven of the floors. I can probably afford to break loose and clear a couple on my own. I'm strong enough to take anything in my way down in an instant. I just need to get through with tomorrow's escort, but first, I'll need some information.'_

* * *

 _Floor One Tolbana_

(Change background to Kingdom Hearts Re:coded's _Travers Town_ )

Ragna walked around the town square, ignoring the stares he was getting from most of the players. He wasn't a dense, he could hear the whispers, what they were saying about him. He occasionally heard the terms _Blood Oath_ , front-lines, solo-player, and even hero.

 _'_ _What a load of crap,'_ he thought to himself, as he continued to look around for a certain info broker. He'd met this one a while ago and while her prices were steep, the information she delivered was always top quality and well researched. _'_ _Damn it, where the hell are you?'_ Eventually he stopped the brown cloaked girl sitting by herself on the park bench.

"Took me long enough to find you Argo," Ragna said as he sat down beside her. The woman gave a tiny pout as she regarded the Reaper.

"I keep telling you to add me to your friend request to save time," the cat-whiskered girl said to him as he sat down next to her. "And yet you stubbornly tell me that you won't."

"The last thing I need you to do is tracking my movement and selling the info to the guild's for a quick buck," Ragna scoffed. "I need to tell you what you've heard from the guilds about the floor eight dungeons."

"What's it worth to you?" she asked Ragna, ready to barter. It was then that she heard a small grumble. Ragna was now refusing to look at the info-broker, feeling a small tinge of embarrassment. "How about you pay for my dinner?" she said with a small smirk.

"Tch, fine," Ragna grumbled as he got up. _'I guess some things never really change, at least I'm getting something out of this.'_ "Just don't expect any desert."

"I think I will, if you want me to make sure I remember everything," Argo said, not letting her sly smile drop.

"And you wonder why I don't add you to my friend list," Ragna muttered as he led the info broker to the restaurant. "So tell me, what's the update on the eighth floor?"

"It's not looking very good," Argo told him with a dark expression. "The top three guilds have searched every dungeon that they've found on the floor top to bottom and they haven't seen anything that has even suggested that they were close to the boss room."

"So either there's a secret to the dungeons that they're just not getting, or there's a hidden dungeon that they've yet to actually find," Ragna guessed. "Either way, it seems like trouble. I don't like this, if there's one floor like this, who's to say that there aren't others?"

"Can't really say," Argo commented as she continued to walk behind Ragna. "I've talked to some of the beta testers and it sounds like there wasn't anything like this in the beta for this game. If the game's alternating this much, I don't like the idea of what other surprises Akihiko Kayaba has planned."

"Sorry who? I've heard the name before, but I never really paid attention to it," Ragna said as he opened the door to the restaurant. "Table for two," he told the waitress, who nodded as she directed her to an open table.

"I thought you'd know his name, he's the guy who's responsible for creating this game and putting us in this hell game," Argo told him as she sat down, still keeping her hood on despite being indoors. "But back to the subject of the guilds, I was snooping around for information after one of the meetings for the _Holy Dragon Alliance,_ and I heard them say that they were going to try and 'deal with you' soon. whatever that meant."

"Like I wasn't expecting that," Ragna said as he scrolled through the menu. "Normally this is when I'd say 'it's time to keep my guard up,' but that would mean I actually felt threatened by them."

"Aren't you kind of assuming the worst?" Argo asked. "I mean they could just be trying to get you to join their guild."

"Wouldn't make sense," Ragna told her. "These guild leaders are scared of me, they think that if I joined a guild I'd carry more power than them with my combat ability and people would want me to take their job. Nah, they want me out of the way, less pressure on them that way."

"And here you thought you needed an info broker because you couldn't think for yourself," Argo commented, before selecting her food from the menu, apparently not wanting to wait for a waitress. As a plate of lemon seasoned lobster appeared in front of her, Ragna saw his expenses increase by 90 col.

"Damn it, really!? You're ordering the most expensive thing on the menu!" Ragna exclaimed, getting the attention of both the customers and some of the staff. "You'd better have answers to the rest of my questions."

"Would a be a good info broker if I didn't?" Argo asked with a haughty grin as she tore into the lobster. "No such thing as a free meal, so what else do you want to know?"

"What's the weakest dungeon that we have to deal with on floor eight?" Ragna questioned as he settled for beef stew and mead. "The less chances I'm taking on tomorrow's job, the better."

"Why does it matter so much anyways?" Argo asked. "You acting like you're coddling this girl, wouldn't it be better to scare her so that she doesn't try going back to the front lines."

"No, because then she'd tell Asuna and I'd have silverware impaled in my forehead," Ragna shot back, his aggregation starting to show through. "After this job I'm taking some time to myself again, I've been hanging around too many people recently, when all I really want to do is clear this game and be done with it."

"You can't keep solo fighting forever," his info broker decided to inform him. "In an RPG, there's only so much a person can accomplish by themselves. Even if you got to maximum level, I doubt that you'd be able to finish the game with just yourself."

"Well what do you want to do about it?" Ragna asked crossing his arms, his mismatched eyes giving Argo a pretty questioning look.

"I know where the dungeon you want to take Liz to is, so how about we team up for tomorrow? I haven't been on the front lines for awhile and I'd make you job easier."

"Wow, you're actually helping me free of charge. You feeling okay?" Ragna said with a smirk. There was a small ping as his expenses increased by another 80 col.

"It's not really free of charge," Argo said with a smirk as she bit into the full pecan pie she'd just ordered, at the expense of our dear Reaper friend Ragna of course.

"Damn it Argo," Ragna grumbled darkly. ' _And here I am getting screwed into paying an ungodly high bill at a restaurant by a hooded teenager. Some things can never change for me...'_

 **Disclaimer: I've got many things... loving family, good friends... the right to SAO, BlazBlue, and the selected music? Not so much.**

 **Author Note: I didn't get a lot of reviews for last chapter... was it bad or is everyone pissed at me after the poll? (Still not changing the result if that's the case).**

 **Another chapter meant for only setting the stage, but I personally liked this one.**

 **Comment Reflections:**

 **animeandgamerlove** **2: there's no good answer for that question. I think every character would've had a part to add to the story and a very different part to play. I can imagine Ragna trying to keep Kagura from picking up chicks, Ragna trying to avoid Tsubaki or his brother trying to kill him, or even Ragna going to Kokonoe for upgrades or items. In the end, it's up to what you're looking for.**

 **black sun 123: If you're referring to the fact that I had Ragna dress up as Order Sol or the inclusion of Liz, then no. Those were two project's I already had in my mind a long time ago.**

 **I'll see you guys next time, sorry this chapter took so long to make!**

 **Ciao!**


	9. Monster and Reaper

_Blade VIII: Monster and Reaper_

It was about 9:45 in the morning the day after Ragna had first talked to Liz. Today was the day he was taking her and Argo to a dungeon on the eighth floor, in order to avoid both a larger bill for his sword upgrade and pissing off Asuna. He'd already checked in with Argo and she was waiting for him at the Floor Eight warp point in order to show them to the Floor Eight dungeon. Now all Ragna had to do was grab Liz and head up to meet his infobroker. He'd already grabbed breakfast earlier that morning so he was ready to go as soon as he got Liz.

As he walked in town he was pleased to know that there weren't many people out besides him; the Reaper enjoyed his privacy after all and the constant stares he'd been getting lately whenever he went through town had given him very little of it. Ragna had been desperately hoping that he'd learn that ' _Blend_ ' Ars he'd learned long ago from Jubei, but when he'd gotten it he'd learned that it was only useful against monsters, not other players. It was still a useful skill, but it wasn't what he was hoping for.

Eventually Ragna made his way to Liz's tent in the mix of the others. "Hey Liz, you ready to go?" he called from outside, waiting for the Blacksmith so they could get this little job of his started.

"Just give me a minute," Lisbeth said from inside. Strangely enough she sounded pretty nervous. Ragna groaned as he entered the tent.

"I told you to be ready by the time I-" Ragna began as he walked inside. When he was inside he briefly saw a flash of green before he was struck in the forehead by a weapon point. "OW! WHAT THE HELL!?" Ragna flinched as he was blasted back slightly and slid on his feet for a few feet before stopping. He grabbed his sword to ward off his attacker, but then he realized who it was. "Asuna!?"

Indeed it was the second-in-command, wearing her familiar red and white armor with her rapier extended at Ragna's face. Behind her was a pretty shocked Liz who was cowering in fear as Asuna's actions were proving to be reckless and violent. Ragna had no idea what he'd just stumbled into, but he knew that with the scowl that Asuna was giving him, it wasn't anything good.

"Care to explain why you're taking Liz to a dungeon?" she asked testily, her weapon not deterring from where it was pointed on Ragna's face.

"Because she asked me to maybe?" Ragna suggested, his eyes narrowed at Asuna in his own glare. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, the problem is that you're about to get my friend killed!" Asuna shouted at the Reaper. "Why are you taking her to floor eight!? That's the front lines!"

"Again, because she asked me to," Ragna said to her, sighing in disbelief at Asuna's attitude. "And here I was helping her out so you wouldn't stab me in the face with a steak knife for refusing your friend. You really are a pain, you know that?"

"Well I'm sorry if I was afraid you were about to sweep my friend away to a dangerous place where it was very likely she was about to get killed!"

"I'm not sweeping her away, I'm working for a discount on my upgrade!" Ragna shouted before he grumbled and shook his head. "Look, I'll make sure nothing happens to her alright? She'll have a teleport crystal at the ready in case anything goes wrong."

"And I'm not defenseless," Liz said in a huff, her checks where puffed out slightly in annoyance. Had Ragna not been more focused on keeping Asuna from stabbing at him again with her rapier he might've thought it was cute. "Look Asuna, I'll be fine. Ragna's one of the best players out there, right?"

"I guess we'll just have to see," Asuna decided as she took her rapiers point Ragna's face and sheathed the weapon, but her glare never left her face as she looked Ragna dead in the eye. "Ragna if anything happens to Lisbeth today, you'll have me to answer to."

"Noted," Ragna grumbled at her before turning to Liz. "We'd better get going, I'm going to have someone else in our party and she's not exactly the type of person who's known for being patient."

"Right behind you," Liz said before giving a small glare to Asuna, which the second-in-command returned in full. Ragna could practically see the sparks flashing between the two. After a moment the two stopped, but a somewhat fake smile on their faces as Ragna and the Blacksmith left the tent.

"What was that about?" Ragna asked as they walked towards the teleportation point. They had a pretty big section of 'tent town' to walk through, so now seemed as good of a time as any to clear the air.

"Just a bit of a disagreement between friends," Lisbeth assured him. "Plus, she was completely overacting when she stabbed you in the forehead, I mean who does that?"

"Lots of people I know," Ragna told her, not even joking. "You already ate right?"

"Yeah, I grabbed something small before I talked to Asuna. But who's the other person that you were talking about bringing?"

"Just my infobroker who wanted to tag along. Not sure why, she just did."

When they were at the center of the outpost is seemed that people were starting to come out, so Ragna was getting more stares now and it seemed that people were also noticing that he was with Liz, or at least that he was with another girl. He heard some people whispering about him taking her on a date, or them being partners. He even heard a strange someone telling the others that they thought he was married. ' _Yeah, like that would ever happen.'_

* * *

 _Floor Eight: The Plains_

Ragna and Lisbeth stepped off of the teleportation platform and observed the surrounding area. Ragna had been to this floor before, and he knew it was trouble. The entire floor was plains that resembled the Scottish grasslands with rolling green hills and the edge of the stage was overlooking a large body of water. The real problem was the lack of safezones. The only safezones available was the teleportation platform and the safe zone you'd come across half way inside a dungeon. The place was dangerous, and the threat of being constantly being attacked by monsters was enough to keep most of the players away. As of right now, the only people on this floor belonged to the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ or the _Holy Dragon Alliance._

Argo was waiting for them, leaning against one of the pillars in the teleportation area. She was wearing her cloak as usual and seemed to be carrying a set of daggers for protection.

"Sorry to keep you," Ragna said as he and Lisbeth approached. Argo simply got of the pillar and gave him a dismissive wave. "Anyways, Argo this is Liz. Liz, Argo." The two gave simple greetings as they shook hands. "All right, so the plan is to go until we get to the end of the dungeon or until you want to head back Liz, whatever comes first. You got the dungeon location Argo?"

"Yeah, I'll send it to both of you," the informant said before she brought up her menu and gave them the location of the dungeon which was then shown on the map.

"This dungeon looks like it's pretty far away, much further than most of the other ones" Liz told them. "Any reason you wanted to hit this particular dungeon Argo?"

"Yeah, I've gone over all of the map data I've gotten for this place, and this looks like the least thoroughly explored dungeon, so there's a better chance of finding goodies," the info broker explained. Ragna narrowed his eyes, this hadn't been what they'd agreed to. "Anyways, let's form the party."

After completing the formation of the party the group headed out for the dungeon. The sky was completely covered in clouds, so the three decided that they hurried lest a thunderstorm break out. Because of the constant hills the girls were having a little trouble with the terrain, but to the battle hardened Ragna it was merely a nuisance at best. After about ten minutes of travel, they came across their first group of monsters.

The things had green muscular skin, greasy black hair, and large tusks. There were seven of them and they were equipped in leather armor and wielded greataxes. Ragna recognized these things from the last time he'd come to this floor, they were known as Lesser Orcs. He quickly unslung his sword off his belt and got ready to face them.

"Stay behind me," he told Liz and Argo, his tone clearly not leaving any room for debate. Ragna dashed forward, coming close to one of the Orcs. The creature swung at Ragna with its axe, Ragna merely deflected the attack off of _Blood-Scythe_ , not feeling pushed by his foe's strength. With the Orc off guard Ragna before a massive upwards slash along the creatures body to damage it before bring quickly back stepping to avoid the Orc's second slash. After dodging that technique Ragna impaled the Orc on his blade, causing it to instantly shatter.

As the other Orcs tried to shuffle around him, he noticed the bursts of light struck one of the Orcs. It had been Argo, who had activated a knife throwing skill and had gotten its attention with the damage. As the Orc charged towards Argo, it was intercepted by Liz who wound up her mace and swung as hard as she could into the Orcs gut finishing it off.

 _'_ _At least now I know they can fight,'_ Ragna thought as he leapt over the Orc who'd tried to attack him when his back was turned. " ** _Hell's Fang!"_** As his darkness shrouded fist slammed into one Orc's back, sending him flying into his friend, Ragna was already ready with the follow up. **_"_** ** _CARNAGE SCISSORS!"_** he shouted as he cut both of his opponents across the chest with two massive slashes. The Orc's both shattered after that, leaving Ragna and the others with three Orc's left.

"I've got this," Ragna said calmly as he poured energy into his sword. He'd finally unlocked this ability after the last upgrade he'd gotten from Lisbeth, but now seemed like the perfect time to use it. His swords handle doubled in length as the blade shifted to complete the scythe look. Ragna unleashed a single devastating haymaker on the three Orcs, destroying the three of them instantly. He then let _Blood-Scythe_ retract back into its standard sword mode and put the weapon back on his belt.

"So this is what everyone's was talking about," Lisbeth mumbled quietly to herself. She'd heard how powerful Ragna was in combat, but after seeing him take on Front Lines forces without any effort at all, she now understood that Ragna really was the fighter that she'd heard of.

"Something wrong?" Argo asked, as Ragna seemed to be occupied looking through his result screen. Liz shook her head. "What, feeling a little awestruck?"

"A little," Liz admitted before she noticed Ragna closing his results screen and walked over to them.

"Not bad, but we've still got a ways to go before we make it the dungeon, so I hope you're not done after all of that... or you could be, make my job easier," Ragna added that last part with a chuckle and a friendly smile.

"Yeah, not happening," Lisbeth told him, a small smile on her own face. "I haven't really experienced what it was like to be a front lines fighter just yet."

"Stop trying to get out of doing a full job," Argo playfully scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, let's keep going," Ragna said as the three continued to head off for the dungeon.

* * *

 _One Hour Later: Floor One_

Asuna sat on a street bench in the Town of Beginnings, trying to calm her mind. Yes, Lisbeth had headed out with Ragna to floor eight, but she wasn't upset, not at all! ...Okay, maybe she was a little upset. Two nights ago Ragna was asking her to clear a dungeon with her, but now she was just being left out to dry while he went with her best friend? That gave her more than a little reason to be mad at Ragna, especially after he'd insulted her.

 _'_ _But I did threaten to stab him in the head... twice,'_ she thought to herself with a sigh. _'_ _Maybe I've scared Ragna off and now he hates me. I mean I know he hasn't removed me from his friend list, but Ragna's pretty clueless to anything outside of combat. That's probably why I hate him, I keep thinking he's such a doofus when really all he's doing is being an unseemly caring guy. I- Wait, why am I so worried if Ragna likes me!? I don't like him like-! .. like that.'_

Needless to say, the young second-in-command was feeling pretty strange, thoughts going through her mind that she was pretty unused to having. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even seem to notice when she was approached from behind.

"Hey Asuna!" came a cheery call. Asuna literally jumped to her feet in surprise, something that she wasn't really known for given her position. When she managed to catch her breath, she turned and saw Silica and Pina looking at her in mild confusion. "Sorry," Silica apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," Asuna said, releasing an calming breath. "I was just thinking about something and I didn't hear you two coming. Anyways, what's up Silica?"

"I was trying to see if I could get together with a couple of our friends and form a party, but you seem to be the only one ready. Agil's busy with his shop, Klein's working with his guild, and Ragna's already on floor eight!"

"Yeah I know, he's actually there with a friend of mine trying to clear a dungeon. It has me worried that something bad is going to happen."

"Why would something bad happen?" Silica asked. "Ragna's strong enough for anything. Didn't you hear how he soloed floor seven? Your friend couldn't be safer!"

"Yeah, I guess," Asuna admitted, but Silica could see that something was bother her. The young dragon tamer didn't really have any idea's what it was, neither did Asuna in reality.

"Hey, if you're so worried then why didn't you go with them?" Silica decided to voice.

"I dunno, maybe because I thought that there'd be something important to do at the guild, but it turns out things are so slow until we get new data on the floor, there's nothing for the elite forces to do."

"Then why don't we go find them?" Silica suggested. "C'mon, if we leave now, we might be able to catch up to Ragna and your friend!"

"But isn't that kind of rude? I mean we'd essentially be barging in and demanding to join their party."

"It wouldn't be like that," Silica said with a smile. "Ragna's our friend, he loves having us around. Can't you tell how happy he is when he's with everyone."

 _'_ _I guess he seems at least a little happier... aside from the times I'm stabbing silverware in his fa- Whoa, let it go Asuna.'_ "All right fine, let's try to catch up, but if we should try to avoid fighting until we catch up with Ragna and the others."

"Sounds like a plan!" Silica said with a cheery personality as Pina let out a delighted caw.

* * *

 _Two Hours Later: Floor Eight_

 _'_ _Damn it, these monsters really are restless,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he charged power into his blade, causing it to glow darkly, before throwing his sword at his opponents. The blade cut through the Orcs without resistance and returned to Ragna's waiting hand. A few feet away from the Reaper, his comrades were finishing their opponents without mercy or trouble. Argo dodged the attack from her Orc before sipping like a ballerina with her blade in hand, cutting the Orc several time before stabbing it in the chest and slaying it. Lisbeth was caught in a weapons clash with the Orc she was facing, but eventually she managed to force it back and cause it to stumble. She then side stepped the Orc's retaliating slash before she charged a _Power Attack_ with her mace and smashed into the Orc, causing it to shatter. It was then that the results screen was displayed.

 _'_ _At least they're skilled enough I only have to guard them, not babysit,'_ Ragna thought to himself. "You two doing alright?"

"Better than alright," Lisbeth said with a smile as she looked at her results screen. "I just managed to level up to level eighteen! I guess this place is great for experience, I got to seventeen just yesterday and now I've already managed to level up! What about you Argo?"

"Just made level twenty and got another knife skill, apparently with this one I can temporarily increase the size of the knife I'm using without effecting the weight. Seems like I'm going to have some fun with this."

"Awesome!" Liz said, feeling excited with the level progression they were making. She hadn't been in the field for awhile, so all of this felt fresh and exciting. "What about you Ragna?"

"No new levels or skills," Ragna said as he quickly closed his results screen. "I doubt I'll have leveled up by the end of today anyways."

"Aw c'mon, don't act like such a pessimist," Liz told him. "What level are you anyways?"

"Does it matter?" Ragna said before giving a solid glare to Argo, knowing full well that she'd sell away his level info in a moment once she figured it out.

"You're among friends aren't you?" Liz said before she realized what she said. _'Wait, are Ragna and I really friends? I mean we just met each other yesterday and the only reason he's helping me is because of this job. Oh man, I must seem like a total weirdo!'_

"Twenty-Eight," Ragna said in mild reluctance.

"Wait, what?" Lisbeth asked, pretty confused.

"I'm level twenty-eight, as of yesterday. I leveled up twice while hunting for the electrum and managed to make quite a bit of col." Ragna then noticed the look of shock on Lisbeth's face, her eyes were wipe open and even her mouth was hanging. Argo wasn't saying anything, but he was pretty sure she was just mentally recording this. "Whatever, we'd better get going."

"I-I guess," Lisbeth stuttered. _'He's ten levels above me and he doesn't even treat it like that matters. I thought eighteen was great, and I got that huge clump of experience yesterday after I upgraded his weapon... Does he really not know how strong he is?'_

Despite Lisbeth's confusion the group continued on with their travels over the hills, not wanting to get caught by the monsters that were still lurking among the plains. While they were traveling, Lisbeth decided to try and ask Ragna a few questions to get to know him better.

"So Ragna, how'd you get so strong? I mean level 28 is pretty high, especially considering we haven't even hit the tenth floor yet. How'd you do it?"

"I go to the frontlines, I kill as many monsters at a time as I can, I level up, not much else to say from there."

 _'_ _Seems like he has sort of a punk personality,'_ Liz thought to herself. "So what were you like outside of the game, I mean, what did you do for a living?"

"...I was a swordsmaster," Ragna told her, feeling uncomfortable when it came to bringing up his past.

"I guess that explains why you're so good in the game," Argo decided to comment. Ragna cringed somewhat, he'd have to choose his words carefully, otherwise his info broker would blab to everyone about him.

"I just had a knack for it and decided to stick with it," Ragna said, trying to give as little incriminating info as possible. "I was also a pretty good cook, not to brag or anything."

"Really?" Lisbeth said, sounding pretty interested. "How's the SAO cooking system been for you then?"

"Haven't even looked at it," Ragna said curtly as he continued to walk and keep his eyes open, after awhile he noticed they weren't the only ones out here. As the other group started to move towards his, he groaned as he recognized them. "Great, now I've got this to deal with."

"What's wrong?" Liz asked before she noticed the group approaching them. They were all wearing white armor and seemed to be a part of a particular guild. "Aren't they members of the _Holy Dragon Alliance?_ "

"Looks that way," Argo said as the other group came closer and closer. "Pretty sure I know what they want with us," she said giving Ragna a knowing look. Ragna kept his hand away from his sword hilt, but remained on edge as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Looks like this is our lucky day," one of the guild members said to his six friends. He was the only one not wearing a helmet, leaving his long red hair flowing outwards. This attribute might've made him handsome if his face wasn't so sickly thin. "We've been looking for you forever, Ragna the Bloodedge. My name is Zass, Field Marshal of the _Holy Dragon Alliance._ we need to talk."

"You'll have to wait, I'm not talking to you in the middle of the field," Ragna said, uninterest clearly written on his face.

"Yeah, well this won't take long. I'm just here to make you an offer about joining our guild. I know that we can both profit from this if you decided to leave the _Knights of the Blood Oath._ "

"I don't know what you've heard, but I was working with that guild for one job only. Beat it." It was obvious that Ragna was quickly losing his patience with them. He was a bit surprised that they were trying to recruit him instead of offing him like he'd originally thought, but he didn't

"Come on the perks are high, and the position we're offering is good. Why won't-?"

"I already told you I'm not interested, now beat it."

"What, you think you're fine travelling with these twigs?" Zass asked, gesturing to Liz and Argo. The rest of his guild mates let out a string of laughs. Liz and Argo glared at them in annoyance. "But you know, they're not exactly bad one the eyes. How about it ladies, you want to join the greatest guild in the game?"

"Sure I guess, know where they are?" Liz retorted, not dropping her glare at the other players.

"I wouldn't join you losers if you begged me," Argo said to them in annoyance.

"You know, mocking us when we outnumber you is a pretty bad idea," one of them said as he grabbed out his sword and his friends followed in suit. "So how're we going to do this? Tell you what, how about you ladies give each of us a kiss and we call it even." His friends laughed and a few gave a dirty cheer.

"BACK. OFF." Ragna's voice was low and threatening. Even Liz and Argo were somewhat scared with his current change in attitude. "Either you back away now, or there're going to be problems."

"Please," Zass mocked, not having any idea who he was dealing with. "What are you going to do, kill us? Do that and you'll become a red player! Everyone will know that you're the one that killed us!"

Ragna didn't respond right away, he simply took his sword off of his belt and got into a fighting stance. The other members gave a snicker, convinced that Ragna was bluffing. "Hey, you all remembered your teleport crystals, right?"

"Aw, you gonna play the hero and try to let the women escape? Like that's gonna matter, you're coming with us, with or without them!"

"Actually I was talking to you," Ragna told them, his eyes still narrow in a glare.

"Yeah we did, why do you-?"

In an instant Ragna's sword went into its scythe mode. Before the guild could even react Ragna made a massive slash with his weapon, surprising the girls. Ragna might've been threatened, but he was actually about to kill people, real people. As Ragna's slash ended all of the guild members were still standing.

"Hah! He missed! Get him!" Zass ordered his men, right before his sword shimmered and shattered in his hands. "What the-!" Glancing around, he noticed that all of his guild mates had lost their weapons as well.

"There, now you're the one with the choice," Ragna told them darkly, resting his scythe hilt on the ground. "Either you keep pestering us without a weapon and eventually all die to the Orcs that come after me, or you use your teleport crystals and haul ass out of here. What's it going to be?"

Zass looked at Ragna with hate filled eyes. No one talked to him like this and got away with it and got away with it. No one. "You jackass? You think we only brought one weapon!?" He shouted as he selected another sword from his inventory. "There! Now you and those bitches are going to-!"

Ragna's weapon was a blur as he swung with much more ferocity than before. When the blur was gone Ragna was giving off a small smirk. "How many sets of armor do you each have?" The next instant, seven sets of white armor shattered into bright pieces leaving the guild in regular clothing.

 _'_ _He managed to destroy their armor without hitting a single one of them in ONE SLASH!? The hit range for striking the armor instead of the person is supposed to be only a few millimeters!'_ Lisbeth thought to herself in awe. By the stuttering words and dumbfounded expressions, the guild wasn't any less awestruck. Several of the members gave screams as they grabbed the teleport crystals, leaving with their tails between their legs.

"COWARDS!" Zass shouted, even though he was the only one left. He froze as he suddenly felt the cold sting of steel on his neck. Gulping he looked down and saw Ragna's scythe blade was resting on his vulnerable point, one false move and that would be it for him.

"This is what happens when you mess with my friends," Ragna said, not a single emotion was shown in his voice. "Next time I'll be taking a lot more than just your armor!"

Zass gave a shrill scream before he grabbed his teleport crystal out of his pocket. He fumbled with it in his hands in fear before managing to active it, getting himself out of Ragna's sight.

"Later Zass-hole," Ragna muttered before chuckling. "Heh, I should keep that one in case he bothers me again." Turning his attention back to Liz and Argo he gestured for them to follow him.

"H-How did you do that?" Argo could barely ask. "That should've been impossible."

"Just a little something I picked up on in my training. Trust me, it's a lot harder than it looks. It takes years to get accuracy like that, but that's only if you get the proper teacher."

"That's not accuracy ! That's inhuman!" Liz exclaimed before sighing. "And Asuna was scarred that you were taking me to floor eight. You could probably fight the final boss now and not have to worry about a thing!"

"Hey, I'm not invincible," Ragna informed as they kept walking. "If I met someone who's too high a level I can still die in one hit. And if I'm fighting a large enough crowd of them, then tough luck for me. One bad move and I get erased, permanently."

"Then why don't you team up with someone and form a team or something?" Liz asked. "You're accomplishing so much when you fight alone, Let someone in so you don't always have to do everything on your own!"

 _'She's acting like she knows me...'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'But still, this is my fight and my business. I don't want to lose anyone else I care about. I've gone through that shit enough times.'_ "I work alone, end of story."

"But-" Lisbeth started, before realizing that she couldn't change Ragna's mind. _'Maybe he really is just another level driven punk.'_ "Fine."

The three traveled in silence after that, Liz and Argo gave each other questioning looks about the Reaper they were traveling with. Ragna on the other hand said nothing and acted passive, but on the inside he was actually missing the noise. It was strange, when he was traveling with Tao he knew she was his friend and that she meant well, but that didn't keep him from wanting her to shut up and leave him in peace. Now he'd finally met a group of people who'd actually keep their traps shut while he walked, but he actually felt like he wanted to talk to them. Maybe not about his past sure, but something.

 _'I'm getting too damn soft,'_ Ragna finally decided as they reached the coastline. There weren't any monsters in sight and the waves were crashing against the cliff wall below them. Out in the distance Ragna could swear he could see the edge of the world and the water fell off the game's edge. He opened his menu and looked at the map. _'Weird, according to this we're standing right on top of the dungeon. That must mean that the dungeon's directly below us. Looks like that path over there should take us down there.'_

"Hey Ragna," Argo said, breaking the long standing silence between the group. "Someone's coming this way."

Ragna turned and saw the two figures approaching him. He grunted in minor annoyance. _'Just when I had enough to deal with already.'_ He crossed his arms as Asuna and Silica (and Pina of course) made their way over to the group. "What're you two doing here? I thought I told you that I had this."

"Well I got the day off from the guild so I decided I wouldn't chance it," Asuna told Ragna. Despite her no nonsense answer, Ragna noticed that she didn't exactly seem to be glaring at him. "I'm just here because I want Liz safe, and I'm willing to help you pull off this job alright?"

Ragna shrugged, at least Asuna was acting more reasonable here than she'd been back at the store. "Fine, but what're you doing here Silica?"

"Well Pina wanted to see you again and I heard from Asuna that you were on floor eight, so I decided to come with her." To back up Silica's claims, Pina let out a tiny caw from where she rested on her master's head.

"Sure, blame the dragon," Ragna said with a sigh. "If you two really want to tag along I won't stop you, but how the hell did you catch up to us so quickly anyways?"

"Well you already killed all of the monsters on the way here, so we didn't have anything to worry about on our way here," Asuna explained to him. "Not to mention we decided to run for most of the way in case we did encounter any kind of trouble."

"I guess that makes sense," Ragna said as he opened up his menu sent a team invite to Asuna and Silica. They accepted and their names appeared in the upper left corner. "All right, let's clear this dungeon and get out of here, this floor's bugged me enough already."

After the group descended along the small path on the coast's edge the found the entrance to the dungeon on the sea floor level. The design of the dungeon seemed to be pretty well thought out. Different part of sea coral and urchins aligned the walls in varying colors and seemed to give the entire place a darker undersea vibe. The creepy part about the dungeon though was the monsters, which were skeletons of Scandinavian warriors with bits of sea life on them. They were slow, but their power and durability were exceptionally higher than the Orcs, so it took some doing to take them down, after a while of traveling the two came across a pool of water.

"Looks like a dead end," Asuna told them, looking down into the water below. "Looks like this is it Liz, sorry."

"Hey don't be," Liz told her friend. "I had a lot of fun coming out here with all of you. I can see why everyone treats the front line fighters with a lot of respect."

"Ready to head back Ragna?" Argo asked. The Reaper appeared to not have heard her as he was looking into the watery depths below him. "Something wrong?"

"We don't die if we fall into water, do we?"

"As long as you don't drown or get attack by monsters I think you're fine," Argo told him. "Think there's something down there?"

"Probably," Ragna told then before jumping in. The girls were silent as they looked down where Ragna had disappeared. They couldn't make him out in the dark waters below and started to get worried. After awhile they heard another slashing sound. "There's to the other side through the water," Ragna called. "Asuna, Argo, you're going to want to take a look at this."

The girls looked at each other in mild confusion before submerging into the waters below. When they emerged they saw a damp Ragna waiting for them. His clothes were now slightly darker than to the water and his gravity defying hair seemed to actually droop a little now. Positioned behind Ragna was a steel door. On the door was the imprint of a terrible creature's face, which may have been human at one point, but was now warped and twisted beyond recognition. Despite being hidden in a secret part of the cave, the doors were huge, at least three times as tall as Ragna.

"It's the boss chamber," Ragna told them darkly as he looked on. "All this time it was right under our noses and we couldn't find it because the explorers were afraid of getting a little wet or just didn't see through it..." Ragna sighed to himself. "Let's get out of here, we need to inform the guilds about this."

"Shouldn't we get a look at the boss first," Liz asked. Ragna cringed slightly when she asked that, there was so much that could go wrong here.

"I'm already done with my job," he told her, turning his back to the group. "You want to go on, do it without me. No one said anything about facing a dungeon boss."

 _'He really is only looking out for himself!'_ Liz thought to herself, angry that Ragna wasn't anything like a hero she'd fist thought he'd been when Asuna had described him. "Fine!" With that she shoved open the doors and walked inside. The other girls gave her a worried look before following her inside leaving Ragna standing outside with Silica for a moment.

"Dammit, really?" he groaned to himself as he reluctantly unclipped _Blood-Scythe_ and followed them inside the boss room with the young dragon tamer.

(Cue Spinal's Komplete Dynamic Theme from _Killer Instinct_ )

Inside was a large chamber like all of the bosses before it, only this time the floors seemed to be littered with human skeletons. Part of the room was covered in darkness, and Ragna assumed that this would be where the boss would appeared from. His theory was confirmed when the group took a few more steps forward as the was a sudden rumbling sound. The boulder that was throw out of the shadows would have crushed them, had Ragna and Liz not smashed it with their weapons.

A giant grotesque hand emerged from the shadows before slamming to the ground. The rest of the creature revealed itself, carrying the same face that had been on the door. Even hunched forward and travelling on all fours, the thing was at least twice as tall as Ragna. It's limbs were unnaturally long, and it's entire body seemed to be some form of a twisted human. The creature let out a massive and feral roar before the team staggered back and four health bars appeared. It's name appeared over its head briefly; _Grendel_.

"Well we saw it!" Ragna yelled. "We gonna get out of here now!?"

"We don't know how it attacks yet!" Asuna yelled.

"It throws rocks! What more do you want!?" Silica yelled, wanting to get away from the creepy creature. That was when the creature slammed its fists to the ground and sent out a massive shockwave, sending everyone flying. "Okay... rocks and shockwaves... can we go now?" Silca managed to say in her false feeling of pain.

Asuna quickly recovered from the fall and quickly sped towards Grendel to stab at his torso. Before she made it there, Argo threw several daggers and the monster's head to catch it off guard, but the knives didn't even pierce the head as they were deflected off Grendel's skull and fell to the floor. Asuna followed up with her rapier and the stab hit home. The creature didn't even flinch and its HP certainly didn't drop.

"What in the world!?" Asuna cried out before she was backhanded by the creatures giant fist. Asuna screamed as she rolled along the ground before she looked up to realize that the creature had taken out a third of her health with that single hit. That was before she was stuck by the creatures backhand and sent flying back, leaving her HP in the red.

"Doesn't anyone ever listen to me!?" Ragna shouted in annoyance. " ** _Carnage Scissors!_** " He rushed towards the beast and deliver a massive slash across it chest. Even his signature technique only succeeded in create sparks from the attack. The monster then brought its massive fist upwards and proceeded to smash Ragna with all of its force. Ragna blocked the attack with his sword, but he still took a fair amount of damage. The attacks kept coming rapidly and Ragna was given no room to avoid them. Ragna's senses were becoming overwhelmed with the pain he was receiving.

"You monster!" he heard Lisbeth shout. He turned his head and saw the three were charging at Grendel with their weapons charged with different skills. Ragna was about to shout a warning, but that was before the boss let out a massive roar and slammed both of its fists to the ground, creating another shockwave. Being closest to it, Ragna was sent fly back the furthest, being blown into the wall before falling in a pile of skeletons. Liz, Silica, Pina, and Argo still took massive damage and were blown next to Asuna. With their low HP they couldn't even move as they saw Grendel looking at them with vicious eyes.

When Grendel lept into the air to bring it's fists down upon them, Liz thought that she was doomed. This was it, there was no way out. She was going to die in the digital undersea cavern because of this ugly monster and then her brains would be fried. And for what? She wanted to see the digital world? "How... stupid..."

The fists came down and Liz closed her eyes, ready for the hit to come. It never did as she heard a massive smashing sound. Looking up she saw Ragna standing over her. Grendel rolling on the ground after Ragna had smashed him back with the blunt side of his weapon. Ragna took a fighting stance in front of the girls, ready to defend them.

"Get your teleport crystals and get out of here! I'll cover you!" Ragna shouted. Liz looked at the Reaper in mild shock, before realizing that he was actually bleeding. She checked his health and realized that he was in the red and had very little health left.

"But you'll die!" Liz shouted. "There's no way that you can-!"

"IT'S BETTER ME THAN YOU! NOW GO!"

That one sentence alone told Liz everything that she needed to know. Ragna, despite appearing to be a self-serving mercenary and uncaring champion, was willing to give his life for them. He was willing to die, just so they could get away and have some hope of getting out of this game. She was snapped out of her thoughts before she realized that Grendel had risen and was letting out a giant roar. Ragna rushed forward to meet the monster and stop him from finishing his friends off as Liz and the others grabbed out their teleport crystals.

"I'm sorry," she could barely whisper as she vanished. Now Ragna was left with an opponent he had no way of killing.

 _'Damn it, now what?'_ Ragna thought to himself as he barely managed to duck and avoid the monster's fist. _'If I run he'll just come after me and even if I block I'll be dead before I can use my crystal. What was Kayaba thinking when he added Grendel into the game? Wait... Grendel?'_

Ragna dodged yet another smashing attack from the creature, but now he was starting to remember back. Back to a time that seemed so long ago...

*Flashback (Pause theme)*

"Hey Saya! I made you some lunch!" a much younger Ragna said as he stepped into his younger sister's room. He was still tall for his age and had jade green eyes and clean blonde hair. Saya looked up from the book she'd been reading in her bed and smiled. She had blonde hair like her brothers which fell to her shoulder. She also had Azure blue eye and warm slime. "Feeling any better?"

"A little," Saya said to him. "I'm still feeling a little weak, but at least I can still read my books."

"I don't know how you can stand it," Ragna said as he shook his head and set the tray of food down on Saya's nightstand. "If all I had were a couple of lousy books to read, I'd go crazy within days."

Saya gave a small giggle at her oldest brothers antics. "You probably would, but at least the book I'm reading is really interesting. The title of the book is _Beowulf._ "

"Weird title," Ragna commented as he grabbed a chair and sat close to his sister's bed. "What kind of book is it?"

"It's a book that was written a long time before the dark war even took place," Saya told him. "It's a book about a Viking Hero saving a group of other Vikings from a monster that's called _Grendel_."

"Pft, all of those Vikings and they still can't take down one monster? That seems pretty weak," Ragna scoffed.

"Grendel was actually a different type of monster. Not only was he faster or stronger than any Viking, he had an enchantment so that he couldn't be hurt with any weapon. The hero, Beowulf, only managed to kill Grendel by defeating him with his fists."

"Sounds pretty cool," Ragna admitted. "Of course I'd take down Grendel in only one punch!" Ragna flexed to show off his growing muscles, but he wasn't doing this to be macho, not at all. He was doing this so that he could get his sister to laugh and take her mind off of her sickness, if even for a moment.

His action were rewarded as Saya burst out laughing. Ragna laughed along with his sister glad to see she was at least feeling better. "Well, maybe you could Ragna."

"Yeah, maybe," Ragna shrugged. "Anyways, enjoy your lunch, I'm gonna go check on Jin."

"See you later Ragna," Saya said, giving off that warm smile that always seemed to brighten her brother's day.

*End of Flashback (Resume)*

 _'So I can't use my weapon,'_ Ragna thought as he dodged yet another attack. _'But this could be an entirely different Grendel, and if it the same one, maybe it doesn't have that enchantment.'_ Grendel rose to full height, and raised his fists into the air, ready to create another shockwave that would finish Ragna. _'Doesn't matter, I'm screwed anyways.'_

" ** _HELL'S-!_** " Ragna shouted as he rushed forward and slammed his fist into Grendel's gut. The creature lurched slightly and Ragna saw a decrease in health. " ** _-FANG!_** " he finished sending a wave of darkness out which slammed into Grendel and blasted the monster back. Blue energy fragments emerged from the monster and were absorbed into Ragna's arm, getting him back some of his health, but still leaving him in the red.

"Oh, NOW IT'S A PARTY!" Ragna shouted as he reset _Blood-Scythe_ and ran towards Grendel, not bothering with his weapons weight. Grendel swiped at Ragna with a long arm, but Ragna flipped over the attack. " ** _Gauntlet Hades!_** " he shouted as his foot struck Grendel in the face. He then followed up with another darkness covered strike with his other leg, sending the monster flying back. With those few moves alone, Ragna had already depleted half of a health bar.

Grendel roared as it grabbed another boulder and tossed it at Ragna. Ragna ran forward and actually managed to catch the giant projectile. With a loud roar he swung the boulder around and threw it back at his attacker, dealing even more damage. Ragna ran through the stone's shattered debris and stuck Grendel in the chest with his fist before spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick. Grendel attempted to retaliate by smashing his fist down on top of Ragna, but the Reaper dodged the attack by back-stepping.

"Let's end this! **_DARKNESS FANG_**!" Ragna shouted as he his entire arm glew in pure black energy. He then rushed to Grendel, drilling his fist into the creatures gut before his arm turned into a glowing claw.

" ** _DARKNESS CONSUME YOU!_** " he shouted as darkness shot out of the ground below him and struck Grendel countless times. Grendel screamed an ungodly scream as Ragna crushed him withen the claw and destroyed him completely causing the monster to shatter into light shards.

Once he was gone Ragna's face was filled with pain as he grabbed his BlazBlue arm panting heavily with both pain and adrenaline. _'Damn it, must've overused it again,'_ he thought to himself. _'And here I thought I got better at controlling this damn thing... The game must be interfering and make this thing harder to control.'_ Ragna grabbed out his teleport crystal and was about to sag to his feet until he realized something. ' _Wait, where's the congratulations sign?'_

As soon as Ragna thought that another inhuman howl was heard from the darkness before a boulder shot out. Ragna barely managed to dodge it as the projectile hit his crystals and destroyed the item. He looked up and saw another hand emerge from the darkness before an even large version of Grendel appeared. Ragna would've thought this was a clone of the monster or an upgrade, but then he remember the rest of Beowulf.

"Oh right, the bastard had a mother didn't he?" Ragna groaned as he grabbed out his sword, knowing that Grendel's mother didn't carry the same enchantment as her son. "Well then," Ragna began as he shifted his sword into scythe mode. **_"COME ON!"_** Both Ragna and the new creature roared as they charged at each other.

(End theme)

* * *

 _Floor Four (Cue Dearly BelovedBirth By Sleep Version)_

Asuna, Lisbeth, Argo, Silica, and Pina all stood around the teleportation altar. They'd been waiting there ever since they narrowly escaped from the boss dungeon and were waiting for Ragna to come back. Originally their spirits were high as they knew Ragna would be following behind them shortly, but that had been twenty minutes ago and he still wasn't back. Asuna said nothing, but kept staring at the pedestal in a glare as she expected Ragna to return, but even she was losing hope. Silica, Argo and Liz were staring at the pedestal with a sad look on their faces, they knew the dangers that Ragna had been put in because of them and the dire situation he'd been in when they'd left, but they were expecting him to try and follow right after them.

"I-It's all my fault," Liz struggled to say. "If I hadn't demanded to see the boss instead of listening to Ragna, he'd still be... he'd..."

"He would've been fine if we did our regular plan," Argo admitted. "I was the one who wanted to go to that dungeon. He'd wanted me to take you to the easiest one, but I insisted on going to that one, even though I knew it was the hardest... I put money ahead of safety and Ragna paid the price."

"I stabbed him in the face this morning," Asuna said remorsefully. All of the girls and a couple of bystanders looked at her like she was crazy. "I was upset when I heard he was going on an escort mission to floor Eight without telling me and that he was going with my best friend... so I sort of lashed out at him. What a great way to treat your friend on their last day alive..."

"R-R-R-R-Ragna!" Silica burst out before sobbing. Pina tried to nuzzle against her neck to comfort her master. Silica merely grabbed Pina in a tight hug as she continued to cry. Liz walked over and put a comforting hand on Silica's shoulder to comfort her.

The rest girls were silent after that. Each of them standing around, just waiting... hoping that something would happen... that Ragna would show up. Twenty more minutes, and he never did. After awhile they heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her.

"Asuna," a familiar voice called out. Asuna turned and saw Heathcliff with his personal guard walking towards them. As usual, Heathcliff had an emotionless face.

"Commander," Asuna said in turn.

"Is something wrong? I noticed you and your friends standing here by yourselves about ten minutes ago and you seem to be glued to the spot."

"We..." Asuna began. "We just lost someone, a front lines player..."

Heathcliff's face did change to a somewhat more sorrowful one at that news. "I see... who did we lose this time?"

"Ragna..." Asuna could barely say. Heathcliff seemed to be confused while his guard and the surrounding players a let out a gasp and started murmuring. The portal started activating at a steady rate now as more players were exiting the fields before they turned to night mode. "We went to Floor Eight, we found the boss and we... and we couldn't even hurt it!" Asuna screamed, tears filling her eyes. "We fought with everything we had, but it's HP never even dropped! Ragna covered us while we ran like cowards!"

"I... see..." Heathcliff said as he appeared to be deep in thought. "We've truly lost a great man today. I'll have to talk to the other guilds and see if we can find a way to push the boss in a team rush." Heathcliff turned to face the crowd. "Ragna died trying to save his friends, he died trying to save you. As commanding officer of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ I won't let his sacrifice be in vain! We'll clear floor Eight and the rest of the game!"

The crowd was silent, no one daring to saw a word. As the last people teleported in Heathcliff sighed. "I'll see you at the guild the day after tomorrow Asuna, feel free to get some rest until then."

"Yes sir, I'm so sor-"

"What the hell's up with all of the gloom? Did someone die?"

The crowd gave a gasp as they looked at the man on the teleport stand. Asuna and the other could barely believe their eyes. His body was covered in his own blood, he had bruises all along his face, his clothes looked ragged and it was a wonder they hadn't been destroyed yet, and his hair was stained crimson from the blood, but there he was... a very much alive Ragna.

"...Geeze, was it something I said?" Ragna asked scratching the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "Oh, floor nine's open. Don't ask me how."

If the crowd was staring at Ragna earlier they were absolutely gaping at him now. If anything, this had to confirm the rumors of him clearing the last floor by himself. Everyone was frozen to the stop as they continued to gape, leaving Ragna pretty uncomfortable under all of the attention.

"...Alright then... If that's all, I'm gonna go." The blood stained Reaper grabbed out his new set of teleport crystals, glad that there was a new town on floor nine where he could buy them. Before he could activate his crystals, a single cry sounded through the square.

"RAGNAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ragna barely managed to catch a glimpse of Silica and she plowed into him at the speed of sound. He grunted as she caused him to fall backwards on his rear from the tackle.

"Silica, what the hell!?" he yelled, before noticing that she was grabbing him in a tight hug and crying into his chest. _'Oh right, everyone here must've thought I died or something...'_ "Hey I'm alright, okay? You can stop with the waterworks now."

"You big dummy," she cried from his chest. Ragna sighed to himself; why should he have expected anything different from her? He noticed a little more weight on his head and saw that Pina had landed and was making a nest of his hair.

"Really you two? We're in public ya know."

At that last comment Silica immediately let go of Ragna, her face now completely crimson, Pina elected to stay on Ragna's head. "That's a little better, but can the rest of you stop staring?" Eventually the other members in the square got out of their stupor and started going about their business, now convinced that Ragna was some sort of floor clearing demon.

As the rest of the group left Asuna, Liz, Argo, and Heathcliff approached Ragna. Who was doing his best not to look embarrassed after what'd just happened with Silica. "So... what'd I miss?"

Asuna moved and Ragna had a good feeling that she was going to hit him or stab him in the face again, but surprisingly she drew him in for a tight embrace. "Don't do that again."

Ragna's cheeks were now tinged with the slightest of crimson. He actually almost preferred it when Asuna was trying to kill him. Despite himself, he let out a chuckle. "No promises _Lightning Flash_."

Heathcliff gave a small cough, causing Asuna let go of Ragna, her face matching the Reaper's. "Not to break up a heartwarming reunion, but just what happened up there?"

"Well, I was going to leave after Asuna and the others, but the thing would've killed me before I had the chance," Ragna told him. "Thankfully, that was when I remembered an old story that my sister used to tell me about a storybook character, a lot like the one I was fighting. She explained that since weapons wouldn't work on him, you could only beat him with unarmed techniques."

"And that worked?" Lisbeth asked.

"Barely," Ragna sighed. "I'm just glad his mom didn't have that enchantment or I'd have been screwed... shit."

"THERE WAS ANOTHER BOSS!?" Asuna and Liz screamed in demand.

"I don't need you two telling the whole world," Ragna said as he held his ear.

"Yeah, that's my job," Argo said with a smirk. "What'd you find on floor Nine?"

"I didn't get that good of a look at the floor. I just saw a town and decided to grab some teleport crystals before heading back here... didn't you guys think to check your friend list to see if I was still alive." No response. "No huh?"

"Hmph, regardless well done Ragna. I suppose I'll have to cancel your funeral ceremony now," Heathcliff said before cracking a rare smile. "Also I have a gift that I've been meaning to get to you."

Ragna raised his brows in mild surprise before he received the in the text box. "Seriously," he groaned. "This outfit again? I thought I was done with this after my last job."

"I've had it upgraded as much as I can. It probably puts your current armor to shame," Heathcliff informed as he turned to leave. "Just wear it when you have a chance or when you feel like it. I'll see you around."

After Heathcliff left Ragna shook his head. "Like there's a chance in hell that's going to happen... Anyways, I'm going to see if I can take a bath and get this blood off of me. I don't much like the smell."

"How are you bleeding anyways?" Argo asked. "You shouldn't be bleeding if you're in game..."

Ragna was silent for a moment. "Pretty sure it's a status effect, I start to loss my HP with bleed, kind of like paralysis or poison. My HP stopped dropping a while ago, but I think I have to wash this stuff off."

"I won't stop you then," Asuna told him. "Take care of yourself Ragna, alright?"

Ragna gave her a small nod and smile as the second-in-command walked off. He then turned his attention to Silica. "Sorry to have worried you put I'm fine alright?"

"I know," Silica said while giggling. Ragna looked up and saw his hair was mess up from where Pina was stretching it out to make a more comfortable nest. "Looks like Pina really like your hair."

"I guess," Ragna smirked as he picked Pina off his head and gave her back to her master. "Take care of yourself, alright?"

"Sure thing, bye Ragna!" Silica said, waving to the Reaper as she ran off with Pina. The Reaper then turned his attention to the last two ladies in front of him.

"Still want to go back to the front lines?" Ragna asked.

"I think I'm good in my blacksmith shop for now," Lizbeth told him. "But... I wouldn't mind going out in the field and teaming up with you again... If you don't mind of course!"

"Course not," Ragna said with a chuckle. "We're friends, right?" With that last rhetorical question, he sent over a friend request to both her and Argo.

"Me as well?" Argo asked, somewhat surprised. "What brought the sudden trust?"

"Something tells me I'm going to be getting a hell of a lot more stares regardless of what you say. Might as well be able to find you when I've got questions."

"And here I thought you were too stubborn to change your mind," Argo said with a smirk as she accepted the request. "Anyways, how about the three of us grab dinner?"

"I'm game!" Liz said with smile.

"… You're not expecting me to pay right?" Ragna asked with worry.

"Well you did treat Asuna didn't you?" Argo mentioned with a smile.

"How the hell do you know about that!?"

"I have my ways," Argo said with a grin. She and Liz laughed at the deflated look on Ragna's face as he begrudgingly agreed to the request.

(End theme)

* * *

 _Unknown Location_

"And you're sure he isn't a form of malicious software?" Akihiko Kayaba asked as he asked what essentially the core of Sword Art Online; the Cardinal System.

"Affirmative. Complete system scan provides data that he is the 10,001st player of Sword Art Online. His join date was during the second week of the game. Method of insertion is currently unknown, but signs indicate a connection between user _Ragna_ and the mainframe."

"Odd," was all Kayaba could say. "What about the floor eight boss? I remember ejecting that boss program from the game for having too high of a difficulty the campaign."

"Project Beowulf was inserted in order to delete the unregistered user. When the player alone was found approaching the door, recent data provided to me showed that this method would effectively delete the Reaper and leave SAO unaffected as a whole. Intrusion from other gamers was an unforeseen variable. Destruction of user indirectly does not appear to be an option. Your orders?"

"Stop all changes to Sword Art Online, especially those that would kill him prematurely. I can't have him dying on me now." Kayaba said as he walked towards a window and looked out into the data simulated sky.

"Unadvised, game will be cleared much faster with inclusion of user _Ragna._ For future references, I am giving him the program title of _Grim Reaper._ "

"Fitting," Kayaba agreed as he stared into the starry night sky, a shooting star passed his gaze. "I don't care how quickly or slowly the journey is completed. I only care about the context." The creator of this world gave a smile, excited that he had no idea where this would lead. "And it seems that we've already found the hero of the game. Will you really live up to everyone's expectations, or will you fall short. I look forward to your performance... Ragna the Bloodedge."

 _End of Arc One_

 **Authors Note: I own nothing, except the arrangement of these 10100 words.**

 **Well... that happened. Not much to say about this chapter, except that I hope you enjoyed it. I would've gotten this out sooner, except that I felt that I had a lot more to do.**

 **Here are the review responses:**

 **Don't Worry: Glad to hear you're enjoying it, guess things were busy with the holidays.**

 **White Knight of Truth: Sorry, no BlazBlue characters will be joining this fiction. I will have a poll that will come up in a few chapters, so feel free to vote on that one.**

 **animeandgamerlover2: No need to worry, I get your opinion. Though I imagin a few people might be sore.**

 **speedking535: Oh she was, she was indeed.**

 **X the Reaper: I would've included Kirito, but given my slight dislike of his character, I didn't trust myself to portray him in a fair light.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT the Fallen One: Lots of character interaction here. The point of my story is I'm trying not to throw old characters away.**

 **adv: Yep, Argo will have a much bigger role in my story.**

 **guest: The Holy Dragon Alliance will play a large part in my story, but it won't be so straightforward.**

 **Since a story Arc just ended, many of you are expecting me to say something sappy...**

 **You guys are great motivator for writing and I'll see you next chapter!**

 **Ciao!**


	10. The Caring Reaper

**_Poll Details at the end of the chapter!_**

 _Blade IX: The Caring Reaper_

It was the day after Ragna had managed to clear floor eight and save most of his new friends in the process. He'd enjoyed a good meal with Liz and Argo after showering last night... okay, enjoyed wasn't really the best word for it. Sure their company had been nice and he'd actually managed to have a laugh with them instead of his constant brooding, but then he'd been footed with the bill and it had been huge. He was used to this sort of thing by now, but damn it this was getting pricy for him!

Currently Ragna was in the fields on floor Nine looking over his skill list. on the verge of hitting level 30. Most of the skills he'd obtained were the ones he'd been using when he'd been fighting back in his own world, but he'd gotten a few new skills from SAO as well. His list looked like this:

 **Power Attack** ** _Mastered_**

 **Hells Fang 768/1000**

 **-+Additional Blow**

 **Carnage Scissors 456/1000**

 **Gauntlet Hades 425/1000**

 **-+ Spinning Back Kick**

 **Spiral Blade 530/1000**

 **Devoured By Darkness 196/1000**

 **Lunge 300/1000**

 **Unarmed Combat 462/1000**

 **Power Smash 329/1000**

 **Double Slash 225/1000**

 **Battle Regen 400/1000**

 **Darkness Fang 50/1000**

 **Barrier 12/1000**

Like his combat related abilities he was also granted a few abilities through his equipment. His sword _Blood-Scythe_ was considered a level 8 sword (whatever that meant) after the upgrades and had the follow:

 **Scythe Mode** ** _Lv. 2_**

 **Weapon Breaker** ** _Lv. 3_**

 **Armor Breaker** ** _Lv. 3_**

His coat also had a few abilities to add to its increase in stats, most of them looks like they were there to keep him from taking too much damage. The coat itself was level 9.

 **Slash Reduction** ** _Lv. 3_**

 **Endurance** ** _Lv. 3_**

 **Smash Reduction** ** _Lv. 2_**

Perhaps the most confusing of all was his BlazBlue. Unlike the rest of his weaponry, Ragna's right arm didn't grow through smithing (though he was kind of relieved he didn't have to show the arm to Liz and have her smash it with her mallet) but by levels. It seemed to grow every ten levels, so it seemed like an increase would be upon him soon. These are its current abilities at level 3.

 **Improved Regeneration** ** _Lv. 3_**

 **Concealment Ars** ** _Lv. 1_**

 **Darkness Focus** ** _Lv. 2_**

 **Auto Map**

 **Eater Focus** ** _Lv. 2_**

Ragna closed the menu and let out a loud yawn. He'd basically been fighting two wars back to back since he'd just come from the final days of his own war, and his schedule of constantly level grinding and fighting for his life in boss battles was finally starting to catch up with him.

 _'Damn, when was the last time I got a full eight hours?'_ Ragna thought to himself as he walked along the path that would take him back to his town. _'I know that there are still people here counting on me, but maybe they're going to start relying on me a little too much. All right, after I finish hitting level 30 I'm taking the rest of the day off and... doing something else.'_

As Ragna was nearing closer to the Floor Nine town, he noticed a rustling in the bushes behind him. He quickly unclipped his sword from his belt and got into his fighting stance. Several dingo-like humanoids in leather armor called Gnolls emerged from the vegetation, ready to attack the Grim Reaper with their shortswords.

(Cue Ragna's theme _Rebellion_ )

"Let's get this over with," Ragna said to himself as two of the gnolls rushed forward. Ragna raised his right arm and brought a green barrier in front of him to effectively block the Gnolls' attacks. Once the attack where stopped Ragna activated a skilled called **Power Smash**. Much like **Power Attack** , this move increased his damage output, but the procedure was slower. Ragna brought _Blood-Scythe_ above his head before swinging it downwards with all of his might. The move managed to completely destroy the two of the gnolls right there before the blade made the ground quake as it hit, but more were on the way.

Ragna charged his sword and threw it, using his **Spiral Blade** ability the blade arced around and cut through most of the Gnolls and destroyed those it hit. Ragna's blade didn't return to him before the nearest Gnoll was in range to attack him, but with his passive **Unarmed Combat** skill boosting his attack power, he didn't have anything to worry about. He struck the Gnoll in the gut with his fist before turning and performing a roundhouse kick to finish the creature off. He caught his returning blade in his hand, brought it in front of him and activated his **Lunge** ability, flying forward at breakneck speed and destroying the Gnoll he hit.

Another Gnoll tried to attack him from behind, but Ragna turned and deflected the move off of _Blood-Scythe_ before he activated **Double Slash** and cut the Gnoll across the chest twice. The monster shattered before another most came up from behind him. Ragna twisted his body as he leapt into the air and twisted his body to deliver a powerful kick, dark energy radiating off of his leg.

" ** _Gauntlet Hades!_** " Ragna shouted as he struck the Gnoll with the kick before delivering the second kick and finishing the monster off. If he'd wanted to, Ragna could have used his **Darkness Focus** attack beforehand to increase the damage output or **Eater Focus** to increase the amount he got back whenever he used any of his traditional moves, but these guys were small fry compared to what he was used to dealing with.

Two more Gnolls tried to attack him, but Ragna swung _Blood-Scythe_ and destroyed their weaponry before retaliating with a **Power Attack**. He might've mastered the move with all of the times he'd used it, but it still dealt decent damage and was able to wipe out the Gnolls with ease. Ragna might've been taking down Gnolls at a rapid rate, but many more of them were showing up quickly. Ragna shifted his sword to Scythe mode and unleashed a dance of attacks wiping them out as they came into range.

" ** _Carnage-!_** " Ragna shouted as he lunged forward and performed a massive slash with his weapon still in scythe mode. He destroyed a large group of Gnolls before following up. " ** _-Scissors!_** " Ragna shouted as he unleashed a wave of darkness finishing the rest of the Gnolls off.

"What a waste of time," Ragna said to himself as he reverted his sword back to sword mode, twirled it in his hand, and set it back on his belt.

(End Theme)

The result screen appeared in front of Ragna, letting him know that he'd leveled up and reached level thirty. Ragna opened his menu to look over the new changes he'd received. Besides better stats and more HP, his BlazBlue had leveled up to level four which increase his **Improved Regeneration** level to 4 so now he received a total of 400 points of his 8,000 total every ten seconds when combined with his **Battle Regeneration**. Ragna then looked over his abilities and came across another entry, **Corruption Gauge** ** _Lv. 1_**.

"What the hell is this?" Ragna asked as he pressed on the skill and read the ability's features aloud. "A red gauge is now displayed showing the corruption of the Azure Grimoire, which can only be seen by this player. The bar starts empty, but when the arm's skills are used the gauge is slowly filled, making the Azure Grimoire more difficult to control, requiring a cooldown if too full. This gauge increases in size with every level this skill gains and the cooldown rate increases as well."

 _'So this game really is screwing up my control of the BlazBlue,'_ Ragna thought as he found a new red gauge below his health bar. With the skills he used after that last battle it was a little under a third full, but it was already starting to reset. _'Hopefully I don't go Black Beast if it fills completely,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Last time that happened I nearly killed Jin and Noel, I can't lose control like that again.'_

Knowing that he had to be careful with his powers was something that Ragna had come to expect, but at least now he had an easier way of gauging where he was at. The Reaper was about to head back into town when he heard movement behind him.

"Hey Ragna!" he heard a familiar redhead shout. Turning, Ragna saw Klein and his Fuurinkazan guild along with Agil. Agil wasn't an official member of Klein's guild, but he did some work with them in order to get extra col and experience so he could continue to run his shop while staying on the front lines.

"Hey guys," Ragna said to the others. "How've you been?"

"Well we haven't had any near death experiences, which is more than we could say for you," Agil said to Ragna with smirk on his face. "Seriously man, Floor Seven wasn't enough?"

"Why doesn't anyone assume it's one of the guilds that's doing this?" Ragna groaned to himself. "But enough about that, where are you guys headed?"

"We're just heading out to hunt some monsters and maybe clear a dungeon while we're at it," Klein told his friend. "Want to come with?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I promised myself that I'd take the rest of the day off after I finished leveling up," Ragna told the others, before he realized he had no real idea of what he was going to do. "Hey, what do you guys do on your off days?"

"Well you could hit up a bar," Dynamm, one of the guild members, suggested. "It's what I do when I have a day off."

"I'm not going to spend all day drinking," Ragna told him. Unlike the other players of this game, when Ragna drank he could actually feel the effects of the alcohol, probably having something to do with his connection to the game. Ragna had never been much for drinking in his world, but he did know he could out drink thirty men without problems due his unnatural fast healing.

"Well why not just take a nap at an Inn or something?" Issin offered. "Whenever I had a day off in real life I'd always use it to catch up on some sleep."

"I'd need to wait for this adrenaline to wear off," Ragna explained. "Anything else?"

"Why not just walk around town and enjoy the sights?" Harry One (yes, that's his actual player name) put in. "Maybe there's a shop or something you missed."

"Not a bad idea, but I don't want to be anywhere with a lot of people," Ragna told them. "I've been getting a lot of attention with these recent rumors and it's starting to get on my nerves."

"Then head for the _Town of Beginnings_ ," Dale told him. "Pretty sure there won't be too many players there with all of the good shops on the new floor or Tent Town. Most you'll encounter is the occasional NPC."

"I guess that's my best plan," Ragna admitted as he grabbed out a teleport crystal. "Good luck with your hunting guys. Try not to get yourselves killed with I'm gone."

"Hypocrite," Klein muttered and everyone laughed as Ragna vanished into a pale blue light.

 _Floor One_

(Cue SAO 'The First Town')

Ragna appeared in the center of the town. The place hadn't changed, save for how empty it now was. Ragna put his crystal container away and looked around the immediate area. He was surprised to see a couple of kids around eight to ten years old running around the area playing tag.

 _'Damn it, no one told me there were kids in this deathtrap,'_ Ragna thought to himself enraged. _'Can they even defend themselves against monsters or player killers!?'_ Silica was slightly different in Ragna's eyes because he knew that she could at least defend herself, but these kids were younger than her and could only hope to survive on the first floor until the game was done. ' _Maybe I should be keep fighting after all,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'It's not fair to that they have to suffer here while I'm taking it easy.'_

"Hey let me go!" Ragna heard one of the kids shout out. The Reaper turned and saw that a well armored musclehead was picking one of the children up by his shirt collar while a group of other children and a nun stayed away as the other adults pointed weapons at them. The bully seemed to be travelling with three others, one of them being a redheaded woman with a ponytail dressed in black leather who was using a spear.

"You'd better give that knife back to me kid!" the muscle head yelled at the kid he was holding. "You're messing with the _Titan's Hand_ guild, and this is your last chance before I throw you out of the safe zone!"

"But that knife's not yours! My dad gave it to me after he found it!" the child yelled as he struggled to get free while holding on to the knife in his hand for dear life.

"Well boss, what do you have to say about this?" the musclehead directed to the woman in black. She looked upon the two of them, her lackey and the child, before a smile emerged on her face.

"Throw him out."

"No, please don't! Jimmy!" the nun begged him.

The man gave an ugly, evil smile. "Looks like you're shit out of lu-!"

" ** _Hell's Fang!_** " Ragna shouted as he lunged forward with his signature attack. The muscle head barely had time to turn his head before Ragna's attack hit him in the face causing to drop the kid before he went flying into one of the building walls. Ragna caught Jimmy before he could hit the ground and quickly set him on the ground behind him before glaring at the rest of gang. "All of you get behind me," he told the other children, who quickly complied.

"Who the hell are you!?" the woman in black yelled at Ragna. She turned to send her other two lackeys after him before she noticed they were paralyzed with fear. "What's wrong with you idiots? Get rid of him!"

"B-But Rosalia," one of the men stuttered out. "Th-That's Ragna the Bloodedge! He's the solo player on the frontlines that managed to clear two floors by him himself!"

"White hair, red coat, demonic powers, there's no mistaking him!" the other standing player shouted.

"Like I give a damn!" Rosalia shouted before pointing her lance. "Either you idiots get him or so help me I'll-!"

Too quickly to see, Ragna brought out _Blood-Scythe,_ swung it, and destroyed her spear. Rosalia gaped for a moment before Ragna hit her in the gut with another **Hell's Fang** and sent her flying. These people might not have been taking damage, but with Ragna beating them so soundly they could tell they didn't want to piss him off... a bit late for that though.

"You'd better hope I never see you again," Ragna threatened in a low tone. The guild took his words to heart and grabs their teleport crystals to get out of there as fast as they could. Ragna gave a sigh of relief as he turned to the kids he'd just saved. "You all okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," the kid who'd been held by his shirt collar told him. "Thank you."

"It's no problem, I can't stand freaks like them," Ragna said to the children.

"Umm... Excuse me?" Ragna heard a voice behind him ask. When the Reaper turned he swore that fate wasn't done screwing with his life.

 _'You've got to be fricking kidding me,'_ Ragna thought as he looked at the woman who he'd just saved. While it wasn't a complete duplication due to her different hairstyle and glasses, she still had red hair and the nun-like outfit of someone he once knew quite well. ' _She looks like Celica... the same woman who raised me before...'_ Ragna decided to stop his trail of thought there.

"My name is Sasha, and I'm currently looking over these children. Thank you for saving them," the woman told him. "I tell them not to leave the inns for very long because of players like the ones you just frightened off, but after I got separated and saw them being attacked, I wasn't sure what I could do. I don't know how to repay you for saving their lives sir."

"It... was nothing, and call me Ragna," the Reaper told her, now a little less uncomfortable around the woman who looked like his foster mother. She may have some of the similarities, but he decided he'd shove those as far back as he could. Trying to come up with another topic he asked, "So are there a lot of children in this?"

"Yes I'm afraid," Sasha told him with sad eyes as she and the children started walking back to one of the inns with. "After SAO was announced as a death game many people tried to find any family members they might've logged on with. A few of them wanted to contribute to the front lines, but they needed a person to take care of their children, so they left them with me."

"How do they eat though?" Ragna asked. "If you don't eat after awhile you start to lose your health, but these kids seem fine. It can't be easy having to pay for all of them and their food and board."

"Well, most of their parents try to make contributions and I've been getting a weekly donation from the guild _Dark Shield._ " Ragna made a note that Diabel was running the guild better than he'd expected. "Even still, it hasn't been easy. Many of the kids have to share rooms with at least two others and there isn't much room to play. I try to each give them some time each day to play outside, but even that has risks. It's even more work because I've had to make payments to several inns because there aren't enough rooms to put all of the children in one inn."

"That's... too bad," Ragna said looking over his shoulder to the six children. They seemed to be a little frightened still after almost dying, but they were recovering. Ragna was about to turn his head back to Sasha before he noticed a building off in the distance. "Is that a church?"

"I believe so," Sasha told him as he went for a closer look and she followed. "It's not really that big, so I think it might've been put here for one of the smaller guilds. Many of the players didn't have enough money at the time to purchase it, and other were more content with settling in tent town for the time being. I think it's up for sale if that's what you were wondering."

"Might be a good place for the kids though," Ragna thought aloud as he pressed a finger to the doorway. A screen came up revealing the price of the building to come to an even fifty thousand col.

"You're right and I've been working towards it," Sasha told him. "It'll take awhile, but if I try to save money where I can and try to do some monster hunting in the fields I'm sure I can get it within a few months or-"

 _Ding!_ The screen went away after Ragna finished pressing one of the buttons. A key ring appeared in front of him which he grabbed and unlocked the front door.

"Sorry, were you saying something?" Ragna asked as he handed the key ring to her and opened the door.

"You... But the money... Fifty thousand..." Sasha was starting to stutter as she stared at the keys in her hands.

"I'll come back to you when you can form complete sentences," Ragna told her, unsure what the caretaker was so surprised about. He then turned to the kids. "So, wanna go take a look around?"

"Okay!" one of the kids yelled before they ran off, to explore their new home. Ragna watched from the door with a chuckle as the kids ran around the building shouting how cool it was and how they'd finally get their own bed to sleep in.

"Why..." Ragna turned and saw Sasha staring at him with surprise filling her eyes. "Why did you do this? I already owe you for saving the children, how am I supposed to pay for this?"

"You don't," Ragna told her. "I just felt like doing this, after all it's not fair to the kids that they're trapped in here. I just wanted to give them a better chance."

"You paid Fifty thousand col out of pocket," Sasha reminded him. "That's giving them more than a bit of a chance."

"Worth every col," Ragna told her. "Plus, I don't really need too much. The only thing I ever spend money on is upgrades to my gear and the occasional meal in town." _Though those meals are going to wipe me clean soon._

"Can I ask you for another favor?" Ragna nodded. "I'm going to get the other children, can you keep an on the ones already here?"

"I'm not really the best person around kids..." Ragna told her, paling as he remember some of his encounters with Platinum. Still, this would help out and at least these kids wouldn't call him a pedo. "...But I guess I can at least keep an eye on them for a bit."

"I won't take long, I promise," Sasha told him as she left the building.

Ragna just stayed by the doorway, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. _'Wonder what possessed me to do this all of a sudden? I could have just as easily given them some col to get by, but I end up doing the most irrational thing possible... when have I ever been rational though?'_

"Hey Ragna!" one of the kids called to him as the group came running back. "Come play with us!"

"No thanks," Ragna said gruffly. "You guys go have fun, I'm staying here."

"Aww come on!" a girl begged for him to join in. Ragna didn't answer.

"He probably won't be able to keep up with us," another boy said. "I guess he really is a geezer with that hair!"

 _'...Geezer... Geezer... How the hell does my hair make me a geezer!?'_ Ragna thought to himself as a tick mark appeared on his forehead. He got up from where he was leaning. "I'll show you a _geezer_!"

*Later*

Sasha approached her new orphanage with close to forty kids in tow. It had taken her longer than expected to gather up the rest of the children, but everyone was excited to see their new home. As she got closer she heard Ragna shouting from inside.

"Twenty-Eight! Twenty-Nine! Thirty! Ready or not, I'm coming for ya!" the Reaper shouted. Sasha saw him going down the hall opening different doors and looking inside. Eventually he opened one and got a smirk.

"All right, I found you!" Ragna said triumphantly as one of the kids, Leena, exited the room. Sasha noticed one of the other kids, Josh, was sneaking behind him. Sasha was about to warn Ragna, but it was too late as Josh jumped up and tackled Ragna in the back and latched on to him. "OW! WHAT THE HECK!" Ragna shouted, trying as hard as he could to contain his language.

Joining in the fun, Leena tackled Ragna in the front causing the Reaper to further lose his balance. How he was able to remain standing, Sasha didn't know, but it didn't make any difference as Jimmy ran from his hiding spot in another room and tackled Ragna, sending the Reaper to the floor with the rest of the kids laughing.

"DOG PILE!" one of the newer kids shouted as a large group of children proceeded to tackle the downed Ragna. Sasha tried to stop them with minimal success. After a few minutes she managed to get all of the kids off of their victim, who looked pretty pissed.

Ragna's eyes were focused on the children in a heated glare, Sasha now looking slightly worried at what the children's hero was about to do. Then Ragna started to chuckle before going into a full laugh. Sasha smiled. Apparently Ragna wasn't as bad with kids as he thought.

*Much Later*

It was past 9 at night and all of the kids were fast asleep. Ragna had stayed at the orphanage the entire day helping the kids getting settled and playing with them. He was now at the front door, getting ready to leave when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Thanks for helping out today," Sasha said to him with a warm smile on her face.

Ragna smiled. "No problem. Hopefully the kids will be doing a little better after this."

"I think that goes without saying," Sasha told him. "Where are you going?"

"Out to find an inn," Ragna told her. "It's getting late, so I'm going to have to hurry to find a place that's open."

"Then why don't you spend the night here? We've got a guest bedroom that no one's using. You could take that if you wanted."

"You sure?" Ragna asked. "I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"After giving the kids a real home and playing with them the entire day, I think the last thing you need to worry about is being an inconvenience," Sasha told him. "Plus, we could get you breakfast before you head out in the morning."

"Sweetening the deal?" Ragna asked with a chuckle. "Well if you want me to stay that badly, how can I say no?"

"And feel free to come back anytime. I'm sure the kids would love to see you again," Sasha told him.

"You got it," Ragna assured her. "Next day off I'll come back and tire them out for ya."

"You have no idea how much that helps me. Sometimes I feel like I'm fighting on the front lines when I'm trying to calm them down for bed," Sasha said half-jokingly as she and Ragna let out a laugh. "Well, I'd better turn in. Goodnight Ragna."

"G'night Sasha," Ragna said as he headed for the guest room. He got into his room and laid on top of the bed for a moment thinking to himself. _'Now I've got a place to come back to... I almost don't want this to end, but that would leave everyone trapped in this nightmare forever. I swear to god, I'm getting my friends, I'm getting these kids, I'm getting everyone out of here if it kills me.'_

 _'Screw the fates, screw my past, I'm clearing this game!'_

With that last thought of determination, Ragna's eyes began to droop as he slowly drifted off into sleep... And for the first time since he got here, he slept peacefully, unplagued by nightmares.

 **Authors Note: (POLL! I'll tell you where to find the rest of it, so skip ahead If you want.)**

 **I don't own SAO or BlazBlue...**

 **But with the feedback I'm getting I feel like I'm not writing an SAO fanfiction, I'm writing what SAO should've been. (Plus Ragna)**

 **Everyone probably knows this, but Sasha was the caretaker that Kirito and Asuna met when they were trying to find Yui's parents. I always wondered how she ever managed to buy the church, so I figured PLOT POINT!**

 **Anyways, here are the review responses:**

 **speedking535: Well he's nearly died how many times at this point? Didn't really seem to care those other times unless he was fighting Hakumen. But hell, a blade that can kill immortals? I'd run like hell.**

 **X the Reaper: Kirito isn't in SAO. His game was obtained by someone else and you won't be seeing him in this story. I fixed the grammar error, but I think my OneDrive may be a bit glitchy. Glad to see you enjoy.**

 **Greyjedi449t: Yeah, last chapter was pretty long, but don't expect that with every chapter. I'll usually only have the REALLY important chapters that long.**

 **White Knight of Truth: I won't be planning any cameos for this story, but rest assured, you'll all have your say in this.**

 **animeandgamerlover2: You'll see the upcoming poll in a second! I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Paladin9800: Glad to hear you approve, and here I thought I'd have to twist your arm to get you to read my story. *Snickers* Ah, but I digress. Pleasure hearing from you, as always.**

 **Neutral: Yep, we'll have Unlimited Ragna's moveset, but for right now we only have Darkness Fang. We'll get the others later.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: You really read through that last chapter didn't you? I'm honored to have such a dedicated reader.**

 **adv: Happy New Year! (What? Too late?)**

 **Hudson Yang: I just don't really want to write about Kirito. I'll admit it's slightly because of my dislike of him, but what does he really have to offer to the story anyways? I don't get a lot of personality from him.**

 **Moby Trick: Silica is pretty much the ideal younger sister role. But unlike the anime, I actually want to give it time to develop it.**

 **Guest: Oh, I get a list for my work. Like I said earlier, I try to fix the grammar mistakes, but I'm going to point the finger at my computer on this one. And you'll be seeing a LOT of me. Trust me... No creeper!**

 **POLL**

 **Now what part of the story could I possibly be willing for my readers to determine? Well, you get to chose the pairing for this story! That's right, you get to chose who Ragna ends up with! *Note: Don't expect this on** ** _A Reapers Awakening_** **, so don't ask.***

 **Here are the choices as follows (No Silica, for obvious reasons):**

 **Asuna: The Legendary Lightning Flash who's as quick as her namesake to defend her friends**

 **Lizbeth: A Blacksmith who's shine her swords give off is only matched by her own**

 **Argo: An infobroker with a love for gold, but a heart to match**

 **Sasha: A natural mother and welcomes everyone into her family**

 **And the Final option (and the one I fully expect to win)**

 **Harem: That lug Ragna's got a big heart, room in it for everyone!**

 **This poll is on my page now, but it might take some time to post a winner. I'd still say to vote now, but you have AT LEAST until the end of the month. I'll mainly be doing character interactions with all of the characters over the next few days, but it'll still be good. Very good.**

 **Until then, Ciao!**


	11. A Day with Friends

_Blade X: A Day with Friends_

 _'She's doing it... She's still doing it,'_ Ragna the Bloodedge thought to himself in mild annoyance.

He was on floor Nine the next day with Asuna at a local Inn where the two had decided to have lunch outside, just the two of them. The Reaper had spent most of the morning having breakfast and playing a little with the kids, but had then gone back to the front lines to try and clear a dungeon. He'd managed to map out the area, but it had turned out that someone must've clear it before him that day. Non-floor boss chambers were different than regular chamber because the bosses in them respawned at midnight everyday, leaving it open for more players to get some rarer items or fast XP.

Back to Ragna, the Reaper was trying not to look at Asuna for one very specific reason. _She was smiling._ Now Ragna wasn't against the idea of her smiling at him, it beat the hell out of her glares she'd sent at him, but this still made him feel uncomfortable. Her smile was bright, cheery, and she'd been doing it since she'd gotten here. Ragna sighed, now knowing there was no way he couldn't ask the question.

"Okay I'll bite, what're you so damn happy about?" Ragna knew he probably wouldn't like what he'd hear, but at least he'd stopped being bugged by wondering what it was.

"Nothing much, I just got some good news and I felt like celebrating," Asuna told him playfully. Ragna narrowed his eyes, _Knights of the Blood Oath,_ Second-in-Command Asuna was acting playful? This reaked of trouble for him.

"You decided to celebrate. With me. Not one of your other friends." Those weren't questions, Ragna was merely stating facts. Part of him wanted to just get out of here and find something else to occupy his attention (that part of him was also complaining that it'd never taken their food this long to arrive), but the larger part of him knew he needed to get to the bottom of Asuna's game. "Out with it then, what's this good news you heard about?"

"I just heard that the group of kids that were trying to survive on floor one were finally given a good home to stay in after just being saved from a group of extortionists," Asuna said, never dropping her smile for a moment. "I guess someone with a good heart must be looking out for those kids."

"I guess we should thank _Dark Shield_ for all of their donations to the less fortunate," Ragna said passively, not giving her an inch. Now part of him was peeved that Asuna was making a big deal out of it while the other part was trying to figure out how she'd known it was him.

"I don't think it was _Dark Shield_ ," Asuna told him. "I'm pretty sure it was a solo player who keeps trying to insist that he's a lone wolf and not a good person, but never seems to live up to that claim." Ragna said nothing, he even refused to look at her. "Oh come on, you can at least fess up."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this? I was there, I gave some of my col, end of story. I don't need anyone glorifying it, least of all you or Argo."

"Do you even realize what you've done?" Asuna decided to ask and Ragna shrugged. "Unbelievable. I guess you'll deny the entire hero persona until the game's cleared."

"Glad you finally noticed," Ragna said to her, crossing his arms. "But tell me, how the heck did you figure out that I was the one who bought the church."

"Well I ran into Agil yesterday evening after I finished the work with my guild. We didn't talk long, but he offhandedly mentioned that you were heading off to floor one. When I later heard the news that an official orphanage finally opened up I knew that it couldn't be a coincidence."

"Backstabber," Ragna muttered under his breath, referring to Agil.

It was then that the food finally arrived. Ragna was trying to save his money so he'd just order some vegetable stew and some bread. Asuna had ordered a salad for herself, but Ragna was trying to figure out why she was doing that. The only one who had to watch their weight in the world was him and he was burning off plenty of calories with all of the fighting he'd done.

"So how's progress in your guild going?" Ragna decided to ask before starting on his stew, trying his hardest to change the subject.

"There's been no problems for us so far, but it looks like we're starting to get competition from the _Holy Dragon Alliance._ They managed to clear three dungeon on the floor yesterday alone, and all of their members are out in the field trying to get as much experience as they can."

"Three dungeons in one day?" Ragna questioned. "That seems pretty ballsey, even for one of the top three guilds."

"I guess they were beginning to feel threatened by the other two guilds and probably you at the same time. But the thing that has me worried is the players who were clearing the dungeons. I saw a group of them come back looking like they'd just marched through hell and they all looked downcast, some were actually crying like they'd lost someone."

"Sadly I was figuring that would happen," Ragna told her as he continued eating. "Three dungeons on the frontlines is risky, especially when the dungeons and the floor itself are so new."

"It gets worse," Asuna said, putting her fork down. Ragna stopped eating his own food for a moment to look at her. The smiling Asuna from earlier was now gone, replaced by one with a hurt expression on her face. "The main guilds usually post a summary of what they've accomplished that day. It's pretty precise account of information."

"And the players lost count?" Ragna asked, preparing for a high number.

"Zero," Asuna said her hands balling up into fists in anger. "That guild was responsible for sending who knows how many players to their grave yesterday and they won't even admit it."

"Bastards," Ragna cursed, before letting out a sigh. "Have people started talking yet?"

"Not yet, but I think the guild has realized part of it's mistake. Everyone's still in the field, but I haven't heard any news about new dungeons being cleared. That still doesn't make what they've done just vanish."

"No it doesn't," Ragna agreed, his tone starting to turn dark as well.

Trying to get out of the gloom she'd unintentionally brought, Asuna tried to change the subject. "What are you doing after this?"

"I'm actually meeting up with an old friend to explore around the floor and try to gain some levels. You want to come with?"

"Afraid I've got guild work, but maybe another time. By the way, Heathcliff told me that he'd have another job for you, so be ready. You still have the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ uniform he gave you, right?"

"Yeah, I've got it," Ragna told her, a bit ticked off at that. "Why does he insist I keep playing dress up?"

"Status, remember?" Asuna reminded the Reaper. "It lets the other players know that you're aligned with us and since they see us as more powerful because of it, they're more likely to join us."

"Well it beats having them join the _Alliance_ , so I guess I'll play mannequin for now," Ragna accepted as he tore into his bread. "Plus, the bonus I get for it is a nice boost."

"I don't know why you keep insisting on getting paid to wear that," Asuna sighed. "You look pretty good in it, very heroic actually."

"When you wear this coat through as many life and death situations as I've gone through, you don't give it up easily. If this coat can get me to max level, I'll wear it until I beat this damn death game." Ragna took a drink from the beer he'd ordered, downing the last of the tankard. "So outside of combat and floor clearing, how have you been? Only time I ever see you is when you've got a job for me or we're about to take down a boss together."

"I've been doing alright," Asuna told him. "But I've had a few... annoyances lately."

"Annoyances? Like other guilds trying to get you to fight for their team?" Ragna asked as he took another bite of his stew. He'd remembered what'd happened in the fields a few days ago when he was with Lisbeth and Argo, so he could see some gamer trying to convince the Second-In-Command in a similar matter.

"Actually, it's more along the lines of players proposing to me," Asuna told him seriously.

Immediately Ragna doubled over and began choking on the bite he'd taken. Asuna looked on worriedly as Ragna continued to cough in one arm while hitting his chest repeatedly with the other. She quickly offered him her partially drunken glass of water, which he took and downed, seeming to recover after that.

"Someone's seriously proposing to you? Now?" Ragna asked, his voice a little hoarse from his coughing. "What did the promise you _oh Asuna, run away with me? Together we can avoid fighting on the front line and have seven kids after everyone else clears the game for us_ or some shit like that? I can't believe some ass would try to propose to you while we're in the middle of a game. Can't he wait for you to shoot him down until we're out?"

"Actually he was talking about an in game marriage," Asuna decided to elaborate.

"You saying you could get married in this game!?" Ragna asked in surprise. "Holy shit, that's deep."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Asuna admitted. "So, now that you know about that, any ladies that you're thinking about proposing to?"

"No, I don't have anyone I'd want to marry and as far as I'm concerned no one wants to spend the rest of their life with an ass like me anyways." Ragna and Asuna sat in silence for a moment not saying anything before Ragna got out of his chair. "I've got to get going. Dungeons to explore, bosses to beat, shit like that."

"Yeah, don't keep your friend waiting," Asuna told him as she stood to leave as well. "Lunch was nice, we should do this more often."

"I guess, just don't expect for me to pay every time. I'm getting wiped out with all of the meals I've been getting mooched off of."

"Yeah, got to save some money for those kids you're helping," Asuna said, teasing him with a smile.

"Shut it _Lightning Flash_ ," Ragna retorted as he walked off. "Later."

"No one willing to spend the rest of their life with him," Asuna said aloud to herself as she noticed a group of female players spying on Ragna from afar and giggling, the Reaper appearing completely oblivious to it. "He's got to be the most thick headed person I know at picking up signals."

*Later*

After making his way through town, Ragna finally managed to get through the crowds and make his way to the town's south entrance. There he found his contact waiting for him.

"Isn't it a bit risky for one of the top guild leaders to be out in the open without an escort?" Ragna asked mockingly.

"You have no idea how hard it was to convince the others to let me go alone on a rare day to myself, but they eventually saw reason," Diabel said to the man who'd saved his life back on floor one. "They have a hard time distinguishing duties of guarding me with 'babysitting' unfortuantly."

Diabel's equipment had undergone a significant upgrade since Ragna had last seen him. While he still wore the _Coat of Midnight_ Ragna had given him after he'd beaten Ilfang, Diabel had gotten the materials he needed to upgrade the equipment to improve it's defense. The kite shield he currently carried on his back was made out a dark metal and called the _Abyss Barrier._ He carried a bastard sword which he managed to wield with a single hand despite its larger size. Unlike the other parts of his gear, the blade was made of a pure white metal, but had insignias made of a black metal on top of it to make the kanji of 'Guardian' atop the blade.

"Looks like your wardrobe's gone through a couple of upgrades," Ragna said with a smirk. "Hopefully you haven't decided you'd spend all of your time focusing on upgrading your weaponry."

"Of course not, I've been going to the front lines every day in order to train myself, both with small teams and on my own. I may be in charge of leading my guild, but in the end I'm still one of the fighters. One of the better ones if I'm being honest."

"I'll decide to believe that once you've shown it," Ragna told him. "By the way, good job sending donations down to the kids on floor one. You've helped them out a lot."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure my donations pale in comparison to the one you just made," Diabel said with a chuckle, causing Ragna to roll his eyes. "But I digress, I invited you hear today so we could explore this floor. We'd better leave now if we want to beat nightfall on the way back."

"I guess," Ragna said as he cricked his neck. "All right then, this is your show so lead the way. I'll just follow along in case I need to beat anything's ass."

"That's the idea," Diabel said as he took his kite shield from his resting place and equipped it on his left arm before forming an official party and heading out of the safe zone. Ragna followed behind as the began walking through the plains of floor Nine. "By the way, I heard what you did on Floor Seven and Eight. I'm glad you're going through the floors at such a rapid rate, but something's been striking me as odd."

"What's that?" Ragna asked.

"The boss you took out on the eighth floor, the one Asuna called Grendel, I've been to a few of the dungeons on this floor, and I've fought a few of the bosses myself, but none of them seemed to come even close to what you faced."

"Are you saying we just made this up?" Ragna asked with a glare. He hadn't expected Diabel of all people to be accusing him of something, least of all doing his damn job.

"No, I'm only stating the facts. I've actually read _Beowulf_ during school, and I know what Grendel was capable of, but it still seems strange that it's so much stronger than anything we're facing on the floor after it."

"What do you mean?" Ragna questioned.

"You were level 28 when you fought it, right?" Ragna nodded at Diabel's question. "Yesterday we had a group of novices, all four of them only level 19 manage to take down one of the dungeon bosses. They used up a lot of healing crystals, but other than that it was an easy fight. I think you just got unlucky with the boss you fought."

"Like the game's trying to off me or something," Ragna groaned, knowing very well that it could actually be true. To make matters worse, Diabel didn't know about the second boss that had shown up after he was already weary from the first encounter.

"Please, you got unlucky once and you still managed to beat it," Diabel told him. "You've got armor, a weapon, and several powerful skills accessible only to you! You probably can't even name me one other time when the game screwed you over."

 _Flashback_

Grendel's mother, Hag, gave one final scream as Ragna plunged Blood-Scythe into her expressed torso. Ragna roared as he then slashed the blade upwards, cutting from where he'd impaled the monster, all the way to her head, causing Hag to shatter into light fragments. Ragna kept his sword out and tried to stand. Only when the 'Congratulations,' announcement came up did he allow himself to relax. He'd thought that had would've been an easier boss than her son due to the lack of an enchantment, but that wasn't the case. Not only did Hag's attacks cover a larger range and deal much more damage, her speed was at an ungodly level making dodging nearly impossible, and that's not even touching on her health or regeneration rate.

Ragna had finished the fight, but it hadn't been easy. His BlazBlue was in constant pain and threatening to take over his body, which was covered in blood and fully battered. He'd ended the fight with only 27 hit points left, and while he was getting healed now, he still hurt all over.

' _Damn it, that thing was tough,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he focused his energy on trying to calm down the BlazBlue. In order to win the fight he'd had to overuse almost all of his techniques using it and that was starting to cost him. By the time the war ended Ragna practically had complete control over his arm, but now he had about as much control of it when he was training with Jubei.

 _'I couldn't dodge those attacks and blocking with my sword nearly got me killed,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Here I fought with everything I had, but I still don't have all of my techniques. If I still had my old Dead Spike ability I'd-'_

A system notification then appeared in front of him, telling him that he'd reach level twenty-nine. Ragna pressed the notification to check what skill the specifics. Aside from the obvious increase to his stats, he'd also managed to obtain a new ability: _Barrier_.

Ragna's eyebrows twitched as he read the description. _Call a barrier into existence to completely nullify enemy attacks. Will expire eventually, but will then recharge itself over time._ Ragna was silent while he angrily thought about the punishment he'd taken when he'd barely been able to defend himself against Grendel when the monster had him locked in a barrage of smashes or when Hag had used move after move against him and he had little way of defending himself.

" **WHERE WERE YOU FIVE MINUTES AGO!?** " he shouted at the screen.

 _End Flashback_ (Cue Guilty Gear 2 Overture _Keep Yourself Alive_ )

"You'd be surprised," was all Ragna said in response to Diabel's earlier statement. He heard rustling coming from the bushes beside him and saw a group of gnolls emerge from the thicket. "Looks like we've got company."

"Looks like it," Diabel said as he took his sword out of its sheath and got into a ready stance. More Kobolds emerged from the vegetation on the other side of the two players, effectively flanking them. "I'll take the half on my side."

"You sure I won't have to cover for you?" Ragna asked with a small smirk on his face.

"You wish," Diabel countered with his own smirk before rushing forward at his opponents. All of his group of Gnolls leapt at him, but Diabel managed to execute his attack first. His sword glowed a golden hue as slashed across two of the Gnolls, effectively destroying them. Several others broke through and attempted to hit him, but Diabal stood ready with his shield and took all of their attack with ease. He then forced the gnolls off of his before cutting most of them with his own sword. He then bashed one of his opponents with his shield as it too glew gold and finished it off before turning and performing a powerful spinning slash to finish the rest of the group off.

Ragna's strategy for dealing with his group of foes included a mix-up of his unarmed strikes along with his sword slashes. He started off by striking a group of the Gnolls with a powerful roundhouse kick before grabbing out _Blood-Scythe_ and slashing with the sword in a second spin, effectively finishing the group off. " **Gauntlet Hades!** " Ragna shouted as he performed a powerful kick to a nearby Gnoll before finishing it off with a spinning back kick. He then performed **Lunge** and struck three more Gnoll's across the chest before he raised his sword and finished them off with a **Power Smash** , sealing the kills.

The two may have cleared the immediate area of monsters, but both of them noticed a group of Gnolls further down the path. Ragna gave Diabel a simple nod and the two ran for their next group of enemies. Ragna took advantage of attacking first this time performed his classic Carnage Scissors technique, destroying most of the enemies. Diabel then followed up behind Ragna with a **Lunge** , scoring hits on multiple Gnolls. He then activate a double slash technique to finish the final two of instantly.

"And here you thought I'd slow you down," Diabel smugly told Ragna. "If anything, I'd say I'm keeping up just fine."

"Maybe," Ragna said before taking his sword out and activating **Spiral Blade**. The Grim Reaper then tossed the sword into the thicket where it cut through and destroyed several Gnolls before several more leapt out of the thickets and surrounded the two, their numbers much greater than before. "But something tells me we aren't done here yet."

"Seems like it," Diabel said as he turned with his back facing Ragna. "I count twenty-seven, how about you?"

He then heard a sound of monsters shattering and looked over his shoulder just in time to see Ragna's blade return to his waiting hand. "Twenty-three. Guess you miscounted."

"Pretty sure when you next count that number's going to be zero," Diabel commented with a cocky grin.

"Let's make sure of it." The two gave a small battle cry as they rushed their opponents.

 _Later_ (End theme)

Ragna and Diable walked back into town well after 10 that night, both of them having defeated a great number of Gnolls. The number was enough that Diabel managed to hit level 28 and for Ragna to still get a serious amount of XP. Fighting in a two man party wasn't as bad as Ragna had thought and Diabel had proven to be a fearsome combatant.

"Thanks for helping me get some extra levels in," Diabel told Ragna. "I notice it's much more fun doing combat with someone who doesn't expect you to be so serious all the time."

"Yeah, well the feeling is mutual, even though I'm more brooding than serious" the Reaper told him with a smirk.

"I guess, but I still need to ask a favor from you." Ragna motioned for Diabel to go on. "The church down on floor one could still be harassed by players for all we know. If you ever have the time, I was hoping you could be there to let others know it's under your protection."

"No problem, I was planning on heading back there soon anyways." He then looked ahead toward a busy city street and saw a crowd surrounding a few members of the _Knights of the Blood Oath,_ Asuna being one of them _._ "What do you thinks going on over there?"

"Can't really say, but go ahead and check it out if you want. I'm heading back to my headquarters in Tent Town, but I'll be in touch."

"Yeah, go on and get back to your guild, who knows how late you are for curfew?" Ragna said with a chuckle, egging on the Guild leader somewhat. Diabel merely rolled his eyes with an exasperated smile as he left for the teleportation platform.

Ragna wasn't really planning on seeing what all of the commotion was about, but an Inn was just down the street past the crowd, so he decided he'd at least pass by. As Ragna walked closer he started to hear what one of the guild members (not Asuna) was saying to the crowd.

"No please, it was our pleasure," he said, trying to create some sort of supportive spirit that they were already getting. "If it wasn't for the support we've gotten from all of you, we'd never be able to clear floors as quick as we all are."

 _'So they managed to clear a floor boss,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'Let me guess, the hero of the day is...'_

"And of course we can't forget Asuna who managed to go above and beyond today, not only finishing the boss but saving all of our lives while she did it! Give her a hand everyone!"

 _'Called it,'_ Ragna thought to himself as the crowd applauded.

"Listen Reku, it was nothing," Asuna tried to tell the black haired swordsman in heavy armor, but neither he nor the crowd seemed to listen or care.

"But Asuna..." Reku began, his tone becoming more serious for a moment. "You saved my life and I've noticed us getting closer these last few jobs we've been working together on..."

 _'And here it comes. Wonder how Asuna's going to shoot this one down...'_

"If this is about marriage then I'm not interested," Asuna cut Reku off.

 _'Wow, right out of the gates. She ain't screwing around.'_

The look on the swordsman's face was absolutely priceless as he just stared at her with his mouth gaping open. Ragna chuckled, apparently Asuna didn't mess around when it came to marriage.

"B-But Asuna, can't you at least consider my offer?" Reku said, now trying not to look like a fool in front of the crowd. He'd thought that if he'd proposed to Asuna in front of a large crowd after she'd save his life he'd have a good chance of getting her to say yes, but now she was just embarrassing him.

"Look, I saved your life, we work together, but I. DON'T. KNOW YOU. Try asking someone more than two weeks after you met them." With that Asuna walked off the crowd was having a bit of a laugh at Reku's expense, but Asuna didn't get far before she ran into Ragna.

(Cue SAO _Gracefully_ )

"Maybe they should change your name from Lightning Flash to Cold Heart," Ragna suggested with a smirk.

"Well to be honest Ragna, I didn't enjoy doing that," Asuna said, her eyes giving off a slight glare.

"Could've at least heard him out," Ragna mentioned. Noticing that Asuna's glare was intensifying at him Ragna let out a laugh. "I'm only kidding, he got what was coming to him."

"I'm just tired of people acting like they know me after fighting alongside me for barely a week and thinking that they can propose to me just like that. I guess they're just interested in my inventory."

"… Is that code for something or do they mean your actual inventory?" Ragna asked before Asuna jabbed him in the chest with her fist. "Hey, hey, I was just asking. But what does inventory have to do with anything?"

"When two people get married they have shared inventory, meaning anything they owned previously is now available to both parties. It makes sense, but I guess it makes way for some real scumbags."

"You certainly seem to take it seriously," Ragna commented. "Don't tell me you've given some thought to actually getting married."

"If the right person comes around I might," Asuna told him truthfully. "But until then, I'm happily single. By the way, I talked to Heathcliff earlier and it looks like he has a job for you after all. Try to come by the guild close to nine tomorrow, he'll fill you in on the details there."

"Sounds good, you guys still located in tent town?" Asuna nodded at the question. "Alright, I'll see you then and I'll be sure to wear the suit. Anyways, I'm gonna get going. Time to get some re-" Ragna was interrupted by low growl that came from his stomach.

"Didn't have dinner?" Asuna asked with a smirk of her own.

"I was out in the fields, give me a break." Ragna's cheeks were tinged with the pink of embarrassment, but he tried to downplay his actual hunger. He was STARVING.

"Here," Asuna said, taking something out of her inventory. Ragna took the item in his hand and realized to his surprise that it was a few rice balls, or onigiri.

"Where the hell did you find this?" Ragna asked. He'd been looking for different types of food whenever he got an actual meal in, but he'd never encountered these anywhere he went.

"Made it myself," Asuna said with a smile. "I just took up cooking as sort of a side hobby and started out by making these."

"So these are your first creation as a master chef," Ragna noted. "Don't you want to try them yourself?"

"I'd much rather get someone else's feedback on it, and besides, you need it more than I do right now."

"I guess," Ragna said as he put the item's in his own storage. "I'll let you know how they were when I see you tomorrow. Night Asuna, and good job with the boss."

"Night Ragna," the Second-In-Command said as she headed off for her own in.

 _Later_

Ragna lay in the darkness of his bedroom at the Inn, just after having what had to be the best thing he'd eaten in Sword Art Online. Ragna couldn't the last time he'd stopped to enjoy something as simple as sweets, either here or in his own world. As he lay in bed, his thoughts drifted of to Asuna.

 _'The right person huh?'_ he thought when he'd asked her if she'd ever marry. _'Well I hope she finds him. After all she'd certainly deserve someone to make her happy and she's got everything to make them happy too. Kind heart, strong willed, even if she does have kind of a frosty exterior.'_ Ragna grinned smugly at that last remark. _'Maybe I won't be able to keep her as a friend after the game's over, maybe I will, all the same though..._

 _...I'm glad I met her.'_

 **Author's Note: Don't own SAO, BlazBlue, or the Guilty Gear Music I put in here.**

 **I know I said I'd be updating Reapers game next, but I had ideas for this and I decided to go off of them. (I might do another chapter within a week).**

 **I was talking to a friend of mine earlier and he and I got to talking about the magna of SAO called** ** _Progression._** **Since it's already going, I'll warn you I won't be following that at all, but if you want a better idea of the SAO system, be sure to check it out if you can find it easy (As far as I'm concerned we're doing two separate things here since I'm including our favorite Reaper).**

 **I'm considering taking down the poll now, it's obvious that the Harem option is going to win. It already has 16 votes (not including those in the comments) and the others barely have five.**

 **Be sure to leave a comment on the chapter itself and leave a comment if you want Sasha to become a fighter or any style ideas for her. Personally, I'm just think a one-handed longsword.**

 **Also, to everyone thinking that Asuna, Liz, and Argo were too young (which they kind of are) keep in mind that it's JAPAN. The marrying age is pretty young and I'm pretty sure the game doesn't really need to abide by those rules necessarily.**

 **Comment Reviews (There were a LOT this time, I LOVE IT!):**

 **Ayy Imao: Looks like you'll get your wish, the Polls are more or less definite at this point.**

 **Neutral: Yeah, he may have a close encounter, but keep in mind that the limiter he's using is going to be lessened.**

 **Guest(1): NO! Anything but whiny reviews! I'll give you what you want because you asked me and not totally because everyone else voted for it.**

 **White Knight of Truth: Ragna ain't a pimp, but I guess there's no telling who's first. As far as secrets go, it takes a lot for this guy to open up that much. Don't worry about drowning me in advice, even if I can't use it in this story, there are still other ways of applying it.**

 **Reborn Chance Girl: Not sure about Jin finding out he's an uncle or about Yui, but we'll see what happens.**

 **animeandgamerlover2 and The Antic Master: Short and sweet reviews.**

 **speedking535: Like I said above, Ragna can keep his secrets, but if he get's close enough to anyone he should end up telling. It's just a matter of time.**

 **guest ex: ALL HAIL THE REAPER!**

 **BloodedgetheReaper2113: You and the rest of the readers it seems.**

 **TheFallenGeneral: That he does. Plus, I think after awhile the girls will be more than willing to give it to him.**

 **X the Reaper: You get all three of your choices, which is essentially saying you get the Harem ending. Ragna wasn't given a handicap, he's always had it since he got here. It's just that now he has a gauge showing how close he is to corrupting the Azure.**

 **Moby Trick: Silica is less of a waifu and more of a sisfu (this will now be a thing). The wagon is getting pretty full now.**

 **Indirect01: Nope. Blood Kain, Deadspike, Infernal Divider, and Inferno Eradicator (an unlimited move) have yet to be unlocked. You'll see all of those and more later on in the story.**

 **adv: Ragna's good with kids. Maybe Luna's just jealous he won't spend any time with her.**

 **Hudson Yang: Even fate agrees, we MUST have a harem!**

 **Sardine power: It's almost definitely going to be a harem fic, but even in a harem, all of the girls will still get their independent screen time with Ragna.**

 **Hong Cong: I see the theme too, and I guess you'll see more of it later. Ragna will be spending plenty of time in the church later on.**

 **Gman: This won't be going to season two sadly, I sort of gave up on SAO there (Sugo didn't help), but I guess I would enjoy seeing Ragna beat the creeps ass.**

 **TheGrayKing27: I LIVE! Other stories will be coming close, but I haven't read that fanfiction. Too much time spent writing to read.**

 **Until next everyone! Ciao.**


	12. Orgins

_Blade XI: Origins_

Ragna let out a yawn as he made his way out of his bed the next morning. The Reaper cricked his neck before he opened his menu. He looked over the time for a moment before his eyes grew wide. _'8:30? Shit! I've got to get moving!'_ Ragna thought to himself in panic before he ran out of the room and headed for the lower floor of the Inn. Sadly he was out of luck as the entire dining area was crowded with players. _'Looks like there's no breakfast today,'_ Ragna thought to himself as his stomach growled causing him to reevaluate; if he didn't eat now he was going to have a bad time. _'Damn, maybe I can run around town to find a place that isn't booked.'_

After heading out of the Inn, he was further irked to find that all of the restaurants were swarmed by players and many of the places had lines that lead outside the buildings. Waiting was probably going to take at least a half hour if not more, and he didn't have that kind of time. Ragna considered heading back to floor one, but he'd probably run out of time and be late for the meeting. Acting in desperation for a decent meal, Ragna decided to trying running down on of the streets to find a restaurant or someplace that sold food. Funnily enough as Ragna was running along he found a strange building that he swore hadn't been there before. From the outside he could tell that the place was set up as a restaurant due to the tables and chairs, but it seemed to be completely deserted.

"Might as well," Ragna groaned to himself as he walked inside. Upon closer examination, the decor was more modern day, very out of place for a game like _Sword Art Online._ "Weird... Hey! Is anybody here? Paying customer at the front! Hello?" Ragna called out as he looked at the counter. The place had several coffee machines as well as several pastries like donuts and muffins on display, something Ragna hadn't seen in SAO before now. Seeing all of the other players walking past the building without even giving it a glace, Ragna was starting to realize he was the only one who could see this place.

"I was wondering when someone would decide to show up," the apparent owner of the restaurant said as he come out from the back room.

Even just looking at him, Ragna could tell that there was something VERY wrong here. The man stood a little shorter than himself, had a skinny build, somewhat pale skin, whiskers, and unkept black hair. He was wearing a white button up dress shirt without a tie with a black vest covering it and slacks. Instead of wearing regular shoes, he seemed to prefer wearing black sandals and wore sunglass that rested on his nose, not covering his eyes. He kept both of his hand in his pockets and acted at ease, but that didn't make Ragna feel any better.

"Welcome to WildKat, home of the best cup of coffee you can find under the heavens. I'm Sanae Hanekoma owner and only worker of this place, but call me Mr. H if you want. So how can I help you, Spikes?"

"You can explain to me who the hell you are," Ragna told the enigma with his eyes narrowed in a glare. Ragna had trained his senses to perfection a long time ago (it was part of how he'd survived this long) but his top ability was the ability to perceive how dangerous and powerful his opponents were. He wasn't getting a sense of danger from the coffee owner in front of him, but he could feel his power and it was intense, almost reminding him of the first time he'd faced Hakumen.

"...Huh, I guess you're pretty observant, despite everyone calling you an idiot," H said with a guilty smile. "I guess for starters you could call me an observer, but my observation range is pretty large. Different realities, different worlds, different timelines, I can see a lot. Makes you remember a few people doesn't it, Mister SS class criminal?"

"So you know about where I'm from," Ragna said, now having one of his theories confirmed. "What else can you tell me?"

"... I could tell you a lot," H admitted, his expression turning more serious. "But I'm guessing you're strapped for time if you came in here of all places, so I'll keep it brief for right now. I've been looking at your world for a while now, it's a pretty interesting place, but I can't enter it. No one can. It could cause... unforeseen circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Ragna asked as he took a seat. He realized that this could cause him to run a little late, but answers beat keeping time at this point.

"We were afraid," Sanae told him, starting to brew a cup of coffee. "The group I belong to, everyone I work with, even the people above me, we were afraid what would happen if someone from your world were to get out. But for the most part it was a very particular person..."

"Izanami? The Master Unit?" Ragna questioned.

"Actually no. They were large threats to be sure, we probably would've lost everything if either of them made their way out of your world, but they weren't what we were worried about. We were worried about someone much worse; someone completely sadistic, someone who kills people out of boredom, someone you can't predict because they've seen every possibility."

"Yuki Terumi," Ragna said, gripping his first in anger. "I'm just glad I managed to finish that bastard off before I had to face Saya. We don't need him coming back."

"It's not that simple I'm afraid," the barista said vaguely. "You managed to kill that Terumi for good, which was really fun to watch by the way, but your world is still one with several different realities, even without the Continuum Shift there are still an infinite amount of possibilities. At this point it's almost a guarantee that there are Terumis in other worlds, raising up trouble."

"What's stopping them from getting out then?" Ragna had to ask.

"A little something that I like to call the _house theory_ ," Hanekoma said as he handed Ragna a finished cup of coffee. "My own personal blend, and feel free to take a muffin or two. You certainly earned a free cup of Joe after all you've been forced through."

"Thanks," Ragna said as he took one of the blueberry ones and started eating. "So what's this theory?"

"Imagine a large suburban city and each house there represents a world, their walls are considered 'boundaries,' and the area outside those houses is known as the 'Traveler's Plane,' where you have to go through to reach different worlds. With me so far?" Ragna nodded. "All right, now imagine that every house is just four walls and a roof. How do you see inside?"

"Break a wall down, make a hole" Ragna told him without humor.

"Er... I guess?" Hanekoma told him with a cringing smile. "But I'm actually getting at windows. You make a window to see inside. And in order to walk inside..."

"You make a door," Ragna answered before noticing what he was getting at. "And doors and windows go both ways, meaning someone on the inside could use it."

"You caught on pretty quick Spikes. In order to keep any Yuki Terumi or Hades Izanami inside their own world we only make windows to observe what we're doing. I don't care how strong someone can become, making a door or window into another world is specific trait only a VERY select few are qualified for, and not even Terumi fits the bill."

"Tch... And you really think he's going to stop because of that?" Ragna argued back with a glare. "You weren't the one fighting against Terumi, I was! And let me tell you, it's a lot different watching from the seats instead of facing the bastard yourself!"

"I know, that's why we're trying to prepare for when one of them does figure out how to break out, but that's for another time." Speaking of time, Ragna checked his clock and realized he had to get going if he wanted to make it on time. Hanekoma noticed the gesture. "We'll be sure to talk later, but I think I know the question that you're begging to ask me; 'How the hell did I wind up here?'"

"It'd be nice to know," Ragna admitted passively as he took a sip of coffee. "Something tells me that you're somehow responsible for it."

"Part of it," Hanekoma admitted. "When you finally managed to finish off Izanami, the vortex of energy that was let out as you fell was enough to send anyone within 20 feet directly into the boundary, but you were dead center. It staggers belief, but you were thrown out of your world without the need of using a door or even a window. But you're not a traveler, and without being in your own world to belong in, you started to fade from existence itself. Even I can't give someone the power to be tied to an entire world, but I figured letting you fade would be pretty unfair, even by your standards. Since you were almost gone and close to this world, that left with only one choice; _I tied you to Sword Art Online."_

"So you saved my ass," Ragna said. "I guess I owe you one, but something tells me this is only temporary. What happens when I clear the game H?"

"...That's where things get ugly," the Hanekoma told him with a sigh. "I've studied SAO's programming, and I've seen variants of this world enough times to know what happens when it's cleared; the game goes up in smoke."

"And me with it," Ragna sighed as he finished his muffin. "Well that sucks, but I can't say I'm surprised. Guess I'll just have to be ready to make my peace when the times comes."

"It's bad I know, but my hands are tied on this one Ragna, there's nothing I can do. But you should know that you can fight the system. It may be what's keeping you alive right now, but it's not impossible to get some leverage out of it."

"Kinda already figured that one out," Ragna said with a smirk. "I've learned enough about the game to know I should've had to reached a pretty damn high level before I got my **Darkness Fang** move, but with a little elbow grease (and an insane amount of stubbornness) I managed to beat the system and get it early by refocusing my BlazBlue."

"Not bad for figuring it out on your own. Now I know I couldn't stop you from clearing the game if I wanted to," Hanekoma said with a laugh.

"I 've never really been known to half-ass anything," Ragna admitted before he finished his coffee. "Speaking of which I need to get going." The Reaper quickly opened his menu and equipped the _Knight's of the Blood Oath_ garb he'd received from Heathcliff.

 ***Author's Note: Still waiting on that Ragna in Order Sol clothing fanart! Also Sanae Hanekoma is from the Square Enix game** _ **The World Ends With You.**_

"So that's where that ended up," Hanekoma observed. "Now that I look at you, you kinda remind me of the guy I got it from, though he seemed pretty eager to get rid of it... well the uniform anyways, the headband I had to replicate."

"So you brought this here?" Ragna asked looking over the outfit. "I guess it does have that _out of this world_ look, but does it have a name? Every time I try to have Agil identify the cloak or the headband he doesn't find anything; no skills, and the name only comes up as question marks."

"Oh it has a name alright," Hanekoma told him. "The name of the outfit is _Sacred Order of the Holy Knights Uniform_. The headband is called the _Flame of Corruption's Sigil Guard._ "

As soon as the otherworldly observer spoke those names, Ragna's gear was given an identifying names and his skills came up.

 _Sacred Order of the Holy Knights Uniform_ Level 10 Armor

 **Breath Resistance Lv. 2** Reduces damage from breath attacks

 **Endurance Lv. 2** Armor has a much higher durability

 **Slash Reduction: Lv. 2** Reduces damage from slashing attacks

 **Piercing Reduction: Lv. 2** Reduces damage from piercing attacks

 _Flame of Corruption's Sigil Guard_ Level 10 Accessory

 **Critical Guard Lv. 3** Decreases the damage taken from critical hits slightly

 **Improved Headbutt Lv. 3** Increases the damage given by headbutts.

 **Endurance Lv. 2** Accessory has a much higher durability

"I guess the skills on this thing are actually pretty good," Ragna observed as he looked through his gear, why could you identify it though? I'm pretty sure Heathcliff didn't even know anything about it."

"I guess because since this coffee shop is technically my world, I can give you access to certain information that you'd normally wouldn't get. At the same time though, I'm afraid I can't give you knowledge about what's about to happen next, that kinda goes against my orders to the extreme and I'd end up getting erased completely."

"I'll manage without it; I'm already used to being kept in the dark," Ragna told him before grabbing out his teleport crystal. "I'll probably have to come back and bug you for more answers some time or another, but thanks for the coffee and saving my ass."

"You're welcome, and as a last gift I'll make sure you aren't late to your meeting." Before Ragna could question the barista, Hanekoma swipped his hand and Ragna vanished from the spot without a trace. "For a destroyer of worlds, he seems to value this place and the people here a lot. Maybe giving him a second chance was a better idea than I thought. I just hope he continues to make it count. Now then..." he arched his back and stretched his arms. "How should I tell Joshua about this one?"

 _ **Elsewhere**_

Ragna blinked twice and observed his surroundings. He was now on floor four's _Tent Town_ , right in front of _Knights of the Blood Oath_ Headquarters. There hadn't been the usual shimmer from when he normally teleported, and teleporting didn't let you specify certain town locations, you were only brought to the teleportation platform. _'That guy... he's got some power... Pretty sure I could take him, but I'm not looking forward to what kinds of trouble he could cause.'_ Deciding it was better to worry about it later and focus on the game for now, Ragna headed into the headquarters.

Inside the headquarter he was subject to several stares and whispers from the guild members, some of them talking about his apparent victory on floor eight, or the idea that he might've joined the guild officially now. The Reaper did his best to ignore it as he headed for the back of the tent toward Heathcliff's office. Once he was there, he saw Heathcliff sitting at the table expecting him and Asuna sitting a little off to the side. He also noticed the dark haired swordsman that had tried to propose to Asuna last night there as well. Ragna couldn't help but notice the friendly smile that Asuna gave him as he walked inside, he also noticed that the other guy, Reku, had seen the change in Asuna's attitude and had retorted by scowling at the Reaper.

' _Someone's got the wrong idea,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he remained passive to the hostility. "All right I'm here, what's the damn mission supposed to be anyways?"

Reku looked absolutely appalled at Ragna's disrespect for protocol. He was about to shout his head off at the Reaper, but a single knock on the table and a stern look from Heathcliff was apparently enough to silence him.

"I apologize for calling you here with so little warning," Heathcliff told him. "As it stands there was actually a change in plans. My first intention was to hire your efforts to help us with clearing the ninth floor, but it seems that the job is no longer necessary. I do have another job for you however, one that will provide substantial information for our guild. How much of the new floor have you explored?"

"None, since I'd only heard it was unlocked last night. Don't tell me you want me to clear it in one day."

"No, that'd be asking too much, you've already garnered too much of an unwanted hero reputation." The action of Ragna rolling his eyes did not go unnoticed by the commander. "Since most of our members are behind on their level quota's, I don't think we'll be able to start exploring the floor for a few days, but that's still time lost and I can't afford us to lose our current momentum we have towards clearing the game. Your mission's simply going to be scouting the floor to find out what opponents we're dealing with and dungeon locations. Just put in a good six hours and I'll see that you get both whatever money you make as well as the usual bonus."

 _'That's it? This seems too straight forward even if it is going to take all day.'_ "Anything else?"

"I suppose I'd prefer it if you took Asuna with you," Heathcliff told him. "I've noticed that the two of you seem to have a certain amount of respect with each other's work and if the status of those new recruits is any indicator, you two can definitely show me the results I need. I'd go with you two myself, but I'm afraid I have to attend to a few training exercises with some of the officers."

Ragna waited for Reku to burst out and say that he wouldn't condone Asuna going with a punk like him or some shit like that, but the swordsman didn't say anything. "All right, if Asuna's alright with it I'll take her with me." Noticing the nod the second-in-command gave him, Ragna had the answer he needed. "All right, we'll start getting ready now, c'mon Asuna."

Outside the guild, Ragna and Asuna headed for the teleportation zone so they wouldn't have to spend a teleport crystal in order to get to the floor they wanted. Ragna noticed that there were fewer people since the last time they were in tent town, probably because there were more towns opened up to stay in. They still came across the occasional player who always seemed to be shopping for discounted gear, but other than that the streets were empty.

"Hey Asuna, the boss you fought last night on floor nine, what was it like?" Ragna remembered what Diabel had told him about the dungeon bosses on floor nine and how they didn't seem to come close to what Asuna reported the floor boss of Floor Eight was like.

"It was some sort of heavy armored werewolf," Asuna told him. "The thing started off by attacking the players with a greataxe before its health dropped to the halfway point. Then it lost it's weapon and armor and started attacking us with it's teeth and claws. It' attack and defense might've decreased, but the boost to speed made it hard to get a hit on."

"I guess you were fast enough though, given all of the praise you're getting for beating the damn thing," Ragna commented. "But was that thing easier to take down than Grendel?"

"It didn't even compare to that monster. I may have had a few close calls with some of the players, but back on floor eight I just felt helpless, like there was nothing we could do against it." Asuna was silent for a moment before turning to Ragna. "By the way, what was the last hit bonus reward when you beat Grendel?"

"Didn't get one," Ragna told her. "It's weird, I got a crap ton of experience and col, but no items. I still don't know what the deal was with that monster. We were lucky we could beat it, but how the hell were you supposed to face something like that for 90 more floors?"

"Why say 'you' instead of 'we?' You're a part of this too Ragna." The Reaper didn't answer her. "Well I guess we'll just have to stick with leveling up right now, if we can get to the point where we can one shot most of the basic monsters on the floor, we should have an easier time dealing with the bosses."

"I guess..." was all Ragna said.

 _Floor Ten: Teleportation Stand (_ Cue Sonic the Hedgehog _End of the World)_

As the light from the teleportation died around them, Ragna and Asuna walked off the teleportation platform and observed the ten percent point for completing the game. This floor was different compared to the other floors. It looked like the theme was an abandoned city that spanned across the entire floor, the weather was a heavy rainfall that showed now signs of letting up. Even from this far away, Ragna could see lights coming from a few of the buildings here, probably to serve as a safe point for some of the players.

The Reaper opened up his menu and sent Asuna the party request, which she accepted, before going into his inventory and bringing out _Blood-Scythe._ Because the uniform didn't give him a place to set the weapon when he wasn't using it, Ragna elected to simply rest it on his shoulder when he was walking around. Asuna also went into her inventory and grabbed out a cloak that was similar to the one that she'd been wearing when she first met Ragna during the floor one boss fight. Since Ragna didn't have a coat, he decided to be as content as he could be getting drenched.

The two began walking down the streets, their feet splashing in the puddles that covered the ground. It looked like the two of them were alone on this floor for the time being, no other players or monsters seemed in the immediate area, despite the two being well outside the safe zone.

"I don't get it, where is everyone?" Ragna asked. While the Reaper's borrowed uniform was darkening slightly from the rain, his hair had begun to droop making it so that it was much less 'gravity defying' now. "I know that we shouldn't be having too many players up here, but I'd think we'd encounter a pack of monsters or something."

"I don't really know what's going on either," Asuna told him. "Maybe they travel in large groups instead of being spread out like the other monsters?"

"Well I say we focus on the outskirts first before we have to waste time and fight our way through god knows what," Ragna said as he continued walking faster pace. "C'mon, the sooner we're done with this damn job, the sooner we can get out of the rain."

A few blocks down the two encountered their first group of enemies, _Goblins._ They were tiny, green, and were travelling in a much larger pack than some of the other monsters they'd encountered, around 15 goblins in a standard group, all of them wielding daggers. As the _Second-In-Command_ and the Grim Reaper fought off this threat, the two were able to study each other's fighting styles and see just how far they'd come.

Ragna saw how Asuna had managed to improve since he'd first met her. No longer did he see the girl who simply wielded a Rapier and thrust the blade mercilessly at her opponents, now she carried her weapon with grace and technique. Her speed and range were her biggest advantages and she utilized both of them to overwhelm her opponents with swift and well aimed attacks to their heads or other parts of their bodies. Defensively, Asuna was hard to catch, the Goblins could try for as long as they liked, but they still couldn't get a single hit on the swordswoman.

Asuna also managed to observe Ragna and noticed that the Reaper was starting to change as well. She was expecting him to bring out a new technique he'd learn and massacre the Goblins with it, but the attack never came. Ragna was only relying on his sword, wiping out a unit of Goblins with every devastating slash he performed. His attack speed was something to be fear as well as Ragna continuously proceeded to push his opponents with his slashing, leaving next to no time at all for his enemies to even attempt a counterattack.

"Well you've gotten better," Ragna said once all of the enemies were cleared. He then hefted _Blood-Scythe_ up and placed the blade on his shoulder.

"And you've gotten pretty vicious," Asuna told Ragna, her tone slightly shaky. Asuna didn't realize that Ragna's attitude in fighting was just a way to compensate for his armor without worrying about increasing his corruption gauge.

"Eh, if it gets the job done," he said before starting to move on.

 _'Maybe Ragna's been spending too much time on the frontlines,'_ Asuna thought to herself. _'I've heard of this before, players who start to get so addicted to combat they seem to get absorbed in it when they fight. Maybe once we're done here, I can try to come up with some way to take his mind off of all of the fight he's been doing.'_

 **Author's Note: I don't own any series that I've used here... which may add up to a few.**

 **Looks like I'm still getting a lot of love, even after I made this a cross-over.**

 **First up a challenge, if you have any artistic talent or know someone on diviant art who's good with a pen, give me an order sol Ragna picture and I'll use it to set my story. This isn't a demand, I just think it would help.**

 **Second, I know I said no more OC's, but Sanae ties Ragna's orgin in this world pretty easily and he can appear in sort of the guide role pretty well. Rest assured, he won't have a very prominent role in the series, just a character that shows up from time to time.**

 **Third, the Review Responses:**

 **Guest (1): Yep, Azure throne is next one the list.**

 **Neutral40: Thanks, I thought that included a flashback scene like that would make sense.**

 **Animeandgamerlover2 and Greyjedi449t: Thanks, glad to see you enjoyed it.**

 **White Knight of Truth: ...Seriously, why is everyone calling him Ragna the Pimpedge. He's not try to attract girls, it just happens to him. But I agree, it was a balanced chapter.**

 **X the Reaper: Sorry, SAO only. That's the series I know best, that's what I'm sticking with.**

 **Skirosaki: Thanks for the reviews, always good to get your feedback.**

 **Ultima-owner: Only time will tell (hint hint).**

 **Marconator360: Good idea, but I think I already have another ability in mind for Ragna, but I may keep that in mind for a refrense. Rest assured, I'll let you know if I use it.**

 **SargentFalco: Glad you approve.**

 **BloodedgetheReaper2113: Laughing coffin won't show up for some time, but I'll try to make it interesting.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: A katana wielding nun? Sounds tempting...**

 **Zaralann: Thank you.**

 **Moby Trick: I don't know how to say this, but I actually hate the dual wielding skill. While I love a two-weapon style itself, the fact that the skill is so exclusive really ruins it for me, and it's just using two swords IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT! So... not sure what I'm going to do with that just yet. Maybe give it to another character or something.**

 **TheGrayKing27: Two out of three... not bad.**

 **Guest (2): Not sure what you're trying to say there. It almost sounds like you're saying that Ragna has eight losses against a dungeon.**

 **Guest (3): After getting abused so much with ARC, I think Ragna's through with taking this kind of crap. Nothing for it but to let him break all hell lose.**

 **DarkNoct93: I already have a final boss in mind, but I don't think anyone can just grab Ragna's memories, even if he is tied to the game.**

 **Until next time everyone, Ciao!**


	13. Upgrades and Other Changes

_Blade XII_ _:_ _Upgrades and Other Changes_

Ragna let out a yawn as he watched Lisbeth attempt to upgrade his sword. It was the day just after he'd completed his earlier job working with Asuna in order to get the layout of floor 10 and Ragna had decided it was time to check with his local blacksmith about upgrades to his equipment. Turns out Ragna had gathered enough materials to get his sword upgraded which lead to Lisbeth currently smacking it with her mallet. After a moment, a small shine emerged from the sword and the upgrading material was gone.

"Looks like we have a winner," Lisbeth said with a smirk as she looked at the stats. "Go ahead and take a swing or two with it."

Ragna nodded as he grabbed the sword and gave a few controlled swings with it. The blade seemed a little lighter to him now which he figured would happen after giving the weapon a speed related material. Though many would have thought of it as strange, Ragna actually valued the weight of his weapon, how it reminded him that he was still a human with limits to overcome, that he was still Bloodedge, not just the Black Beast in human form.

"Not bad," Ragna told her, giving the blacksmith a small nod of approval. "Alright, now what do I need to collect?"

Lisbeth went up to the blade and gave it a small tap with her index finger, causing a small text box to come up. After reading the text box for a few moments she gave a small smirk. "Looks like you've managed to get your weapon to a branching point Ragna."

"Oh... cool..." Ragna said as he reset his sword, trying not to look too confused. "Hey Lizbeth, what's a branching point?"

"Figured you wouldn't know about it," Lisbeth said with a flirty smile. "You're always all combat and no research. How do you expect to survive SAO if you don't know anything about it?"

"That's what I have Argo for," Ragna said as he rolled his eyes. _'But maybe I should try to find some of these things out on my own. At the very least I wouldn't have to pay Argo for overpriced meals_ _every time_ _I wanted some info._ '

"A branching point is the point where you can start making your weapon more unique and customize the stats the way you want it. What the branching point does is it gives you three different options and tells you the materials that you need for each option."

"So basically this lets me build _Blood-Scythe_ the way I want it," Ragna summarized. "All right, so what are my options?"

"From what I can tell you have three options for improvement. The first options increases the blade's strength, which increases the amount of damage that you deal with it as well as its durability. Option 2 increase the weapons speed which decreases the weight of the weapon and makes it easier to wield and allows for faster moves. Option three has really hard material requirements, but you're able to get some pretty amazing abilities for your weapon from it."

 _'Don't really need this thing any lighter,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'And with my_ _stats_ _I can pretty much one hit anything I come across, so that leaves abilities... Maybe I can find a way actually channel my BlazBlue through my sword this way.'_ "What do I need for ability upgrades?"

"Looks like you need 25 ingots of _Goblin Bronze._ Can't say that I've heard about this material, but hopefully you get a decent upgrade when you finally find it."

"Already found it yesterday," Ragna told her. "Of course I still need to find 17 more of the damn thing, but at least I know that I can get it back on floor ten."

"So that's where you were yesterday," Lisbeth said to Ragna. "Anyways I don't have any orders to fill coming up, so do you want my help getting the materials? I won't charge you for the scan or upgrade if you say yes."

"...Fine, blackmail me why dontcha?" Ragna said as he placed _Blood-Scythe_ back on his weapons belt. "Let's get going; sooner started, sooner I get my damn sword boost."

"Right behind you," Lizbeth told Ragna as she put her weapon in storage and followed Ragna out the tent flap. After setting the tent flap to 'locked,' she and Ragna started heading for the teleportation platform. "So I talked to Asuna yesterday morning and she told me that you going to be helping her guild out with a job. How'd it go?"

"Well enough I guess," Ragna shrugged. "I mean Asuna and I had to spend the entire day searching floor ten, but I in the end I got my money and the job wasn't that tough, so at least I didn't waste my day on any pointless crap."

"I doubt that it'd be pointless if you spent the day with Asuna," Liz told him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's become something of a celebrity lately, I'm surprised you haven't heard." Ragna didn't say anything. If there was one thing in any damn world he found pointless, it was gossip. "Asuna told me that you saw that proposal by that one guy two days ago, but she'd actually been popped the question many more times before that. In fact, people say that she's been proposed to more times than any other player."

"Sounds annoying," Ragna said bluntly. "What about you? How many times have you been asked to tie the digital knot?"

"Zero," Lisbeth said with a sad smile as the two entered the main square. "I guess it's not too surprising, I'm just some mediocre blacksmith, Asuna's the amazing one."

"Keep with that attitude and it'll get you nowhere," Ragna muttered.

"What? You've got something to say?" Liz asked him with a small glare.

"Feeling like your place is in someone's shadow's just stopping you more than any monster ever could. Don't let what other people have accomplished determine what you can do, otherwise you'll never get out of that shadow."

"Is that supposed to be advice or a warning?" Liz was unsure of what Ragna was trying to say.

"Both, now let's go kill some monsters and see what you can you really do," Ragna said assuringly. He managed to get a more genuine smile out of Lizbeth, so that was something.

 ** _Floor Ten_**

When Ragna emerged from the bright light of the teleportation effect and walked along the cobblestone of the ruined city, the first thing he noticed was that while the sky was completely covered in black clouds that almost completely blocked out the sun, unlike yesterday it wasn't raining. As soon as Lizbeth emerged as well, Ragna opened his menu and sent her a party request, which she accepted.

"Cool, so anything I should know about this floor?" Liz asked as she brought her mace out and held it at the ready.

"Just a few things," Ragna told her. "First off, the only safe points that you can find in this place are the buildings with lit windows. Most are normally a tavern, an Inn, or a shop, but others are actually houses where you can get quests from NPC's. There are also these weird abandoned temples located around the city, but those all lead to dungeons. Most of the monster's you'll come across are going to be these tiny freaks called _Goblins_. They're annoying little shits, but they go down easier than those Orcs you faced on floor eight. Besides them you'll come across a couple of four legged freaks called _G_ _oblin Dogs_ , but despite their high HP, you don't need to worry about them too much."

"What about the material we're hunting, do you know what monster drops those?"

"The only monsters that drop what we need are _Goblins_ , but either the drops rate is low or my luck is as shitty as hell. I was constantly fighting those freaks for hours yesterday and I only got eight of the damn things, so I have my doubts that we'll finish this job today."

"Then it's a good thing that you brought me along," Liz told him. "When you travel with someone who studies weapon or armor creation, your chances of getting material drops from monsters goes up."

"If that's all it takes I'll be surprised, but we'd better get started either way," Ragna told her as the two started walking off towards the city.

While the rain had stopped since yesterday, there were still plenty of puddles on the road, making it unavoidable to step them. Ragna figured he'd use the puddles to his favor, trying to keep an ear out for any sloshing sounds that didn't come from him or Lisbeth. After travelling for a few moments he heard a rustling sound coming from down one of the alleyways and saw a large swarm of _Goblins_ heading towards the two of them.

 _(Cue_ _SAO Luminous Sword)_

"Told you they were ugly!" Ragna shouted with a smirk as he rushed towards the monsters. He quickly unclipped his sword and performed a massive slash that managed to catch three of the goblins and cause them to shatter. He then brought his blade around to catch the daggers from another group of goblins before he forced them off balance, grabbed one by its legs and swung the _Goblin_ like a club, smashing it into its allies. He then swung the _Goblin_ the other way before letting go and watching it fly, knocking over another group of _Goblins_ in the process. "Tenth frame and one strike, let's go for two more," Ragna said with a smirk as another group of Goblins spawned close by and rushed forward to reinforce their friends.

While the Reaper was busy bowling with _Gob_ _lins,_ our favorite Blacksmith was battling her half of the freaks. Liz might not have been in proficient in combat as Ragna, but it was understatement saying that she could handle herself. Her mace glowed a pale green as she activated her skill and unleashed a massive swing that smacked three _G_ _oblins_ and sent them flying into the wall where they were destroyed. She then smashed her mace to the floor, sending out a minor shockwave that stunned a small group of _Goblins._ Liz then unleashed three attacks, two horizontal ones to smash the monsters to her left and right away, before leaping into the air and bringing her mace down upon another one.

Ragna dodged a _Goblins_ attack by dashing to the side before coming back with a massive slash that took the _Goblin's_ head off... or would've if it wasn't a T-rated video game program. Ragna then turned and unleashed a massive roundhouse slash that destroyed another group of enemies, before thrusting his sword forward and lunging through several monsters. A snarl was heard by the Reaper, which was coming from the rooftop. Ragna looked up and saw what appeared to be an overweight pitbull covered in warts with two large tusks.

"So now we've got the grumpy dogs coming out to play," Ragna observed before turning the last of the _Goblins_. "Don't you ever walk them?" Even if the _Goblins_ could answer, they wouldn't have the chance to when Lisbeth brought their mace down upon the group, defeating them instantly.

"Shouldn't you be taking this seriously!?" Lisbeth yelled at the Reaper. "We're fighting for our lives here and you're not even going all out!"

"Eh," Ragna shrugged before stabbing his blade skyward impaling the _Goblin Dog_ that had tried to maul him from the rooftops. The beast gave a series of feral shrieks and snarls as it struggled and trashed atop the blade. "I was bored out of my mind the moment the fighting started." Ragna then brought the blade downwards, cleaving through the monster and causing it to shatter in midair before resetting the blade on his belt.

"Then what about that!?" Liz shouted as she pointed with her weapon. Ragna slowly turned his head and noticed a second swarm of _Goblin's_ heading towards them from a street and a half down, this one seemed significantly larger than the last one, a triple group at least. They were moving slowly in order to retain formation and numbers, so it might be some time before they made it to Ragna and Lizbeth.

"Ten or ten thousand it doesn't matter to me, this isn't even a real fight," Ragna said as he roundhoused a _Goblin_ from the previous group and blasted it towards the next group knocking them over. "Strike two, one more and I'll have a perfect game. And Liz?" Ragna turned his head to his blacksmith. "Don't go thinking I'm just an uncaring ass. If I ever felt that you or any of my other friends were threatened I wouldn't hesitate to create hell. But for right now..." Ragna cracked his neck as he began to walk towards the Goblins. "Play time."

"This may be a game to you, but it's not to me," Liz told him, seeing as they still had a few moments before the _Goblins_ got to them. "I'm not you Ragna, I'm not some amazing warrior who just came out of nowhere and began to wreak havoc on SAO, I'm just a regular girl who takes care of weapons and waits for other players to-"

"Remember what I said earlier?" Ragna asked, stopping his advance. "Don't put yourself in other's shadows, and don't compare yourself to me or anyone else for that matter. You're your own person Liz, live your own life." Ragna gave a small grin before he turned to her. "Now tell me; can you beat these things?"

"By myself?" Liz asked. "Ragna, I'm only level twenty-four. My attack might be good, but my defense and speed are-"

"I didn't ask for stats, I asked if you could beat them." Ragna's tone was very even as he looked at the _Goblin_ _s_ in anticipation. Would it be him who'd be required to bring them down, or would he reteach his last lesson to Noel Vermillion to his own Blacksmith?

"...Yeah," Liz finally decided before gripping his weapon firmly. "I can beat them."

Ragna grin grew into a rugged smile. "Say it again, with more conviction this time."

"I can beat them!" Liz shouted as she tensed up. "I'll beat them into the ground!"

Ragna's smile grew, showing his sharp, shiny, half-vampiric teeth. "Show me."

Liz gave a battle cry as she rushed towards the enemy. Her mace glowing as she activated a skill and smashed her mace into the ground. The shockwave that emitted knocked over a large portion of the _Goblins_ over which Liz made a massive swipe to bash them out of the way. She then continued her onslaught, causing more and more of her foes to shatter like glass. Whenever her health started to get low from the damage she took, Liz stepped back momentarily and quickly drank a healing potion before jumping right back into the fray.

"She's good, better than I would've thought," Ragna said to himself as he watched the conflict with his arms crossed, not feeling it necessary to be a part of this fight. A message box appeared in front of him suddenly, startling him. "What the hell's this?" Ragna read the message and groaned, _Incoming call from Asuna._ Steeling himself, Ragna accepted the message, causing a small panel to appear close to his mouth and right ear.

"Yeah Asu?" Calm, questioning chatter. "Yup, I'm with Liz right now." More questioning. "We're on floor ten." Screaming accusations, lots of them. "Hey, I know what I'm doing! She ain't in trouble!" A very temperamental question. "She's fighting right now, so I don't really know about talking." Yet another question, this one screamed. "Hey, she's got this I don't need to but in."

"AND IT'S A STRAIGHT 300!" Liz shouted joyfully right into Ragna's ear, causing the Reaper to cringe. "Talk to you later Asuna!"

(End theme)

Ragna was about to retort, but the call ended, apparently Asuna had hung up on them. "You know that Asuna's just going to pissed beyond belief at me, right?" Ragna asked as he held his pained ear.

"Nothing you haven't dealt with before," Liz said uncaringly. "Plus, I managed to level up twice just now, so I'm getting stronger and that ought to put her at ease."

"Even if I managed to get you to level fifty by the end of the day, she'd still be pissed at me," Ragna said with tsk. He then opened up his own menu. "Huh, no level ups for me, but we did manage to get 3 ingots of the materials I need. Honestly I would've been surprised I'd gotten one, but I guess you were right."

"Still more to get through, right?" Liz asked with a smirk. "At this rate, we should be done by the end of the day."

"I guess so," Ragna said with his own smirk.

 _That night_

Ragna was where he was earlier that morning, standing in a tent watching Lisbeth got to work on _Blood-Scythe_ , all of the materials he'd collected were piled on top of it. A few strikes of her smithing mallet later, Ragna's sword glew a familiar white light as it consumed the components and upgraded. The Reaper's eyebrow raised slightly as he observed the new change to his blade, the edge of the blade was now pitch black.

 _'A design change,'_ Ragna thought slightly annoyed. _'Damn it, I wanted this thing to stay the same._ _Guess I'll just have to live with it.'_ "So what's the ability?"

"Let me check," Liz said as she tapped on the blade. "It's called _Critical Blade,_ it gives you a one percent chance to deal double the damage that the sword would normally deal. It's only level one right now, so I guess you could get more of a chance or a bigger output if you kept increasing it. Next material's called _Sphinx's Bronze_ _._ "

"No idea where to find it," Ragna said with reluctance. "Guess I'll hold off on upgrades for a bit then, thanks for the help."

"No problem, always here to help out a friend," Liz told Ragna with a smile. "So, want to have dinner? I'll treat this time."

"You'll pay? Then I'm definitely in!" Ragna said with eagerness, unused to not having to pay for both meals. "So where do you want to eat?"

"I actually have something else in mind," Liz said with a sly grin before opening her inventor and bringing out a large pot which she set on the counter. "When I talked with Asuna earlier she gave me this and hoped I'd tell her about it later. There's too much in here for just me alone, so I figured I'd share some with you. And..." She opened her inventory again and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. "I've been saving this for a good occasion too."

"If that's what you want to do," Ragna said as he examined to closed pot. "So what's on the menu tonight?"

"Well," Liz opened up the pot and Ragna's eyes grew wide. "By the looks of it I say were about to enjoy some digitally simulated Yellow chicken curry with potatoes over udon." Liz turned and noticed Ragna's reaction. "Ragna?"

 _'Oh F_ _**KING_ _HELL YES!_ _'_ "What are you waiting for? Go on and serve it!"

"A-Alright..." Liz said as she gave a large nervous sweatdrop. _'What the hell's with him? It's just curry and udon, not like he's dining on prime cut steaks or anything.'_

After dishing out the meal and pouring the wine, Liz brought a few chopsticks out of her menu.

"Itadakimasu!" They said to each other as they broke chopsticks. Ragna began to gorge himself on the food in front of him in a very speedy manner, yet at the same time, savoring every particle that was god's gift to him; _UDON_ _,_ topped with curry that he himself couldn't prepare much better.

"You... must really like curry and udon," Liz noted. "I guess you must've really missed them these past few months."

"You have no idea," Ragna said as he finished the bowl right then and there, all too soon for the Reaper. "I'll have to thank Asuna later, maybe try to figure out how to make the stuff."

"That'd probably be cool to do, but be careful, she might bribe you to join her guild with that."

"She wouldn't..." Ragna was now becoming nervous.

"Oh you bet she would, and if your reaction to the curry was anything to go off of, you'd go from red and black to red and white in a heartbeat."

 _'She's got to be_ _exaggerating_ _, I'd never do that,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he finished serving himself some more food and proceeded to take another bite. _'Oh shit I would!'_

"Then again, it might be good for you," Liz said, giving Ragna a look of triumph. "You know that you've been a solo player for way too long. Why not give teaming up a chance?"

"Because I don't like having to go by someone else's rules," Ragna told her. "If I were put into a guild they'd just hold me back and tell me to wait for reinforcements or some crap. I know myself well enough to know when I can clear a floor by myself. Less risks to the others, all the fun for me. It's a win-win. Plus, quite a few players on the top guilds are assholes who think that they're better than the other players."

"They why don't you try opening your own guild?" Lisbeth asked. "That way you don't have to answer to anyone and you can only let the people you want to join up."

 _'...That's actually not a bad idea,'_ Ragna thought to himself. _'If I do it this way I can still fight alone when I need to and I can get everyone off my ass about not joining a guild.'_ "Fine, where do I get started?"

"Just open up your menu, you should come across how to do it in a moment."

It took Ragna a few minutes, but he managed to find what he needed after all. There were an array of options, some telling him if he could create specific guild colors, another to create a guild symbol, but the only necessary one was (of course) a guild name.

"So what are we going to call it?" Liz asked.

"What's this 'we' crap?" Ragna demanded.

"Well you're going to need someone to manage your weapons and armor and I think I'm the right person for the job. Plus I'm helping you make it right now, so I guess that makes me your second-in-command."

"...I guess," Ragna admitted. "As long as I don't need to follow any bullshit rules it'll be worth it." Ragna then paused at the thought. In a way this could translate to a fitting name, one that both symbolized the life he lived for and his fight against his current prison. Ragna typed in the name, created a symbol that matched the one on his chest, but didn't bother setting a uniform or color set. "Looks like we're set."

Liz noticed the symbol to the right of Ragna's health bar. "Where'd you come up with that design?"

"Just a tattoo I got a long time ago," Ragna said as he tapped a few buttons sent her a request. "You sure you know what you're getting into?"

Liz took a look at the guild name and smirked. "You're really going with that name?" Ragna nodded. "I guess it's fitting in a way, so what the hell?" The Blacksmith accepted the invitation, the same symbol appearing next to her. She then raised her wine glass. "I think this calls for a toast."

"I guess it does," Ragna said with a smile as he raised his own wine glass. "To the guild?"

Liz nodded and the two clinked glasses before shouting as one:

 ** _"_** **To** ** _REBELLION!_** ** _"_**

 **Author's** **Note: Don't own nothing.**

 **Same story as before, more character interaction and dialogue, but I guess I liked this chapter. If you guys were hoping for an insta harem with Asuna starting off, sorry to** **disappoint** **, it'll take longer than that. Alright, now for reviews.**

 **Shirosaki Kizuro: Avoiding destruction is going to take a while to get to, but I hope that everyone's hoping that I don't rush this like they did in SAO. I'll give some more context along the way.**

 **Zaralann: More you say? Here you go.**

 **Hudson Yang: *Grins* Check 'Azure Guilt.' You'll get the next best thing.**

 **Neutral40** **: I actually made Ragna to where he's relying less on the BlazBlue and more on his own strength in order to minimize the current risks.**

 **Marconator360** **: Thanks for the support. Any ideas are welcome.**

 **Adv** **: As tempting as it is, I don't think so. I might include a bonus chapter with random BlazBlue characters showing up.**

 **Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Thanks, wasn't sure how fans would react to Sanae, but for now it seems I'm not causing big problems.**

 **Shadowedge27** **: Having the BlazBlue turn Ragna into the** **Black Beast** **is an interesting event, but it still remains to be seen if that's going to happen at all down the line.**

 **Laxard** **: Maybe I'll give Kirito a small cameo here or there, but I don't think he'll be part of the** **original** **game at all. Maybe I'll have him show up in a cut to the real world.**

 **Dread Grim Reaper: If this story's still going strong in a year, expect a Birthday chapter for Ragna in here.**

 **Until next time guys, Ciao.**


	14. Player Killers

**_SPECIAL AT THE END, STAY TUNED_**

 ** _Blade XIII: Player Killers_**

 ** _Floor Ten Dungeon~ Abandoned Coliseum Boss Chamber_**

Ragna swung his blade and cleaved through the mane of the giant lion he was facing. The creature gave a feral roar before trying to slash Ragna with its claws, but the Grim Reaper caught the attack his bare hand, flipped the creature above his head, and slammed it to the ground. The creature struggled to get up, but Ragna impaled his blade into the creature's torso, effectively finishing the monster.

"This is a frontlines dungeon boss?" Ragna muttered to himself as the ' _Congratulations_ ' sign appeared to signify the bosses defeat. He twirled _Blood-Scythe_ in his hands a few times before setting the weapon back on his belt and swiped his arm, giving of a small wing of darkness, his usual victory fanfare. He was about to bring out a teleport crystal to send him back, but in the end he decided against it.

"Alright you, what the hell are you following me for?" he asked curtly without turning his back, knowing full well who was behind him.

"Well I was going to wait for you and try to see if I could run into you in town, but since it looked like you were going into a dungeon I figured I'd spare you from having to explain clearing a THIRD floor by yourself, but it looks like this is the wrong dungeon," Agil said before giving a chuckle. "You sure you hate the attention?"

"Can't stand it," Ragna told him, eventually turning to face his friend. "So what'd you need to find me for?"

"Well you see-" Agil began as he stepped forward, but stopped in front of Ragna in shock. "Y-y-you!" he stuttered out while pointing around the Reaper.

"What?" Ragna asked, more than a little confused at Agil's sudden outburst.

"You joined a guild!?" Agil shouted as he continued to point where he was probably now seeing Ragna's guild symbol. "When the hell did THAT happen!?"

"Oh that," Ragna said with a sigh. If Agil overreacted this bad to finding out, he wondered what Asuna's and Klein's reactions would be. "I didn't join a guild; I made one yesterday to get you guys off of my damn back already."

"Hey, we were only worried about you man," Agil said, looking a little hurt. "But seriously, how big's your guild? I can't imagine it's that big if you only made it yesterday, I mean despite your popularity and everything."

"It's only me and my blacksmith," Ragna told him. "That's it, two members."

"And why the hell did you not think the ask me to join? I thought we were tight," the ax user accused him.

"Didn't really know if you wanted to be a part of this," Ragna asked before scratching the back of his head. "But if you want in, I don't see why not." Sending the invite took all of a few button presses and Agil readily joined.

"I never thought this day would arrive," he said, wiping fake tears from his eyes. "Our Ragna is finally breaking out of his shallow hole of constant combat and is taking the first steps to actually find friends. I can't believe it…"

"Shut the hell up," Ragna growled, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. "Why the hell did you go through all of the trouble to find me? Just wanted to say hi, or were you looking to start shit?"

"Not really, but we do have trouble," Agil said, his tone darkening. "I just ran into Diabel, he just lost a ton of people yesterday in some of the dungeons. The cause? Player Killers."

You could hear a pin hit the ground in the silence between the two men. They both knew that it'd start eventually, the slaughter between player to steal Col and equipment or just to have a sick laugh, but to find out that it'd finally started was a different story. Now the game had become another level of dangerous and Ragna hated it.

"The other guilds?" he asked.

"Heathcliff's looking into it but the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ doesn't buy it without proof, just think it's lousy management," Agil said in annoyance.

"Diabel's sure it's other players?"

"He's got witnesses."

Ragna nodded. "Then let's go. We can't afford to screw around with this."

 ** _Floor Nine Daien Castle~ Dark Shield's New Headquarters_**

The last time Ragna had seen Diabel, the leader of the third largest guild in the game had been in a significantly better mode than he was right now. That time Diabel had been trying to get away from the duties of his guild for a moment, seeking out a simple day out hunting monsters with the Grim Reaper and not having to worry about bringing along bodyguards. Now it looked like the only thing mattered was finding out just who managed to kill a large number of his people and how to stop them. Ragna wasn't about to let the killers get away, nor was he about to let his friend and ally down.

Ragna, Agil, and Diabel were not the only ones in the guild's headquarters; there were also two girls there in their late teens sitting in chairs off to the right of Diabel's desk. The slightly taller girl had blonde hair which she kept in a ponytail, glasses, and wore black metal plated armor and wielded a one-handed axe and a shield. The other one's shorter hair was light green (which made Ragna just a little uncomfortable) and wore black chain mail and carried a falchion on her hip.

"Thanks for coming here so quickly," Diabel said to the two. "I would've sent you a message, but I wanted to be sure no one else knew you were part of our plan. I've never had a single death in my guild before yesterday, but out of the five groups that were attacked yesterday, only Julia and Marta here made it back alive."

"So that leaves four full groups dead," Agil said remorsefully before turning his attention to the two girls. "So how'd you make it out?"

"We almost didn't," the mint-haired one with the falchion told him. "Marta caught on only a second before I did and took six daggers for me. She had a high enough defense where the attack didn't do that much damage and the daggers shattered after they hit, but they were coated in some kind of poison that paralyzed her completely. I barely got a look at who was attacking us before I took out my teleport crystal and got us out of there. There were five or six figures in dusty grey cloaks covering their entire body and I only managed to activate my crystal a second before I would've gotten paralyzed from another dagger."

"And this happened where?" Ragna asked.

"Floor six," Marta, the shield user, told him. "We'd just taken out one of the dungeon bosses when we were attacked. It wasn't an easy fight, but we got a ton of col for it and a decent victory item. That was probably what those freaks were after."

"I kept a record of when all five groups had headed out," Diabel told the group. "Judging from the times, it looked like they were attacked at different times and different locations, but all five groups were attacked in dungeons, most likely in the boss chamber after the boss had been beaten or very close to that point."

"So you've got a plan for that?" Ragna asked. Diabel nodded. "Alright, how do we fit in?"

"I want the two of you to act as bait and catch these assassins," Diabel told them. "I've already got disguises for you two that we can use to trick them. You're both taller than the people who usually wear them, but I don't think anyone will think twice."

"Wouldn't having two of your own guild members trying to come clear a dungeon the day after a string of murderers look suspicious?" Ragna asked.

"You don't know these two," Diabel said with a small smirk. "Fred and George, twins and pranksters extraordinaire. You heard about the string of custard bombs?" While Ragna had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, Agil seemed to grit his teeth. "Yeah, that was their work. Most people might think that they're just trying to cause trouble, but the truth is that they care about finishing the game more than anyone. Pranks are their idea of keeping everyone's spirits up… and they're actually pretty skilled fighters even if they never listen to orders, the both of them. If they weren't so far behind you in their leveling I'd actually send them."

 ** _Author's Note: I'm not actually including the Weasley twins in this story, I'm just making a reference. (That and I've been going back and rereading the books recently)_**

"Sounds like quite the pair," Ragna noted. "But wouldn't it sound strange if they just walked out in plain sight?"

"They've actually helped us out with that one," Diabel told him. "They managed to find a way to get out of the keep through a secret passage when we tried to put them on probation for some of their antics. They were even willing to let us know about it and give up their get-out-jail route so this would work."

"So we go in disguised as the two, we beat the boss, and we hope that the assassins show up," Ragna summarized. "Then what?"

"Then you do your thing," Diabel told him while opening his menu and sending Ragna and Agil their disguises. "But I need to find out everything I can about the assassin's, killing them is completely out of the question."

"It won't come to that" Ragna promised as he and Agil equipped the gear, which were dark hooded cloaks. Ragna was given a basic longsword as a weapon whereas Agil was fortunately given a battleaxe "All right, anything else we need to know about?"

"Just a few things," Julia told them. "First, you need to take off your guild symbols. There's an option to do it in your guild menu. It's easy to do and luckily Fred and George don't use the symbols either and they always where these black hooded cloaks. They think that they can use them so none of their pranks come back to bite the guild, but the truth is everyone already knows they're part of _Dark Shield_."

Ragna nodded in understanding before going into his menu and shutting off his guild symbol. "All right, now show us the secret exit and we'll start clearing dungeons. The sooner we catch these freaks, the sooner we can find out what their deal is and stop them."

"What about payment?" Diabel asked. "We've yet to agree on a proper fee for helping us."

"If you want to pay my guild, go ahead and do it later," Ragna told him. "Debating wages now is just wasting time that we could have used stopping the player killers."

"And here I thought you didn't want anyone to mistake your work for charity," Diabel said with a small smile. "Does our friendship actually mean something, or are you just feeling generous?"

"I don't have the heart to barter for an emergency like this," Ragna assured, but his internal thoughts were a little different. ' _If Asuna found out that I charged Diabel in the middle of a Player Killing, well then I don't want to think how badly she'd react, especially after she's already trying to kill me for taking Liz to the front lines again.'_

 ** _Floor Seven~ Path to the Temple of Oak_**

Ragna and Agil proceeded on the path that would take them to their seventh floor dungeon. They had been told by Diabel that Fred and George had offhandedly mentioned sneaking to this dungeon yesterday while they were in a bar before news of the threat had spread, so this was their best bet.

"Any signs of bein' followed?" Agil asked Ragna quietly, as he didn't want any on lookers to hear his voice.

"Not yet," the Reaper whispered back. "You know anything about this dungeon?"

"Only that it's quite possibly one of the most popular grinding spots today," Agil told him. "I've heard that the boss is a cakewalk if you have the formula for beating it down and characters have been known to camp out in the safe zone to have first access to the boss around midnight. Easy boss, but huge exp payoff."

"So someone's already beaten it today," Ragna argued back. "We're wasting our time here, let's try a different dungeon."

"Hold on and let me finish, there's a reason we're still trying this one," Agil told him. "Yesterday I was looking around town and I kept hearing about players who were going to try hitting some dungeons earlier, but because of the rumor of player killing they decided to keep to the open fields and in large groups too. I'd be surprised if we found anyone in the dungeon today."

"Really, players were sticking back?" Ragna asked, an odd thought forming in the back of his mind; he could've sworn he'd seen at least a few groups of players heading into dungeons. "Then why did you follow me? If you were careless you could've gotten killed."

"Hey you were at risk too, plus I had my trump card," Agil told him before shifting his coat slightly to reveal two hidden potions and handed one to Ragna. "You don't want to know how many deals I had to barter to get these, but in the end I managed to find three of these _anti-paralysis_ potions. Drink one and it blocks and removes minor paralysis effects for sixty seconds. Even the beta guide doesn't have these."

"And you're sure they work?" Ragna asked as he looked at the potion skeptically. "The last thing I want if for your little 'trump card' to bite us in the ass."

"Hey, my appraisal skill showed me these were the real idea and I already tested the third one using that dagger that you got when you cleared this floor. I hit myself with it countless times before the potion wore off and all I got was poisoned a few times."

"That… sounds a little extreme," Ragna said with disbelief. "You stabbed yourself with something poisoned, just to make sure you wouldn't get paralyzed later?"

"Well it worked, these potions are just what we need and as of right now they're off the market," Agil told Ragna. "No one knows about these and all we have to do is sneak them in towards the end of the fight and we're golden."

"Sounds like you've already got everything figured out," Ragna said as he stored the potion. "C'mon, constantly whispering like this is driving me nuts." ' _Funnily enough Agil and I sound pretty similar… wonder why.'_

 ** _A/N: My undying respect to voice actor Patrick Seitz for his underappreciated role as Agil and the unparalleled emotion and humor he's put into Ragna the Bloodedge. Other projects of his include Basilo from Fire Emblem Awakening, Mondo from Killer is Dead (five to one you've never heard of it), and FREAKING SCORPION from Mortal Kombat IX! *Ahem!* Next scene. (#JustAFan)_**

As the two continued on their journey, Ragna kept a constant lookout for being tailed. As far as he could tell they weren't but that didn't mean that he could let his guard down. As strong as he was, there was no telling what paralysis would do to him since he was actual flesh and blood instead of a data avatar.

Combat took a bit of getting used to for Ragna, the longsword was both shorter and lighter than the blade he was used to and to attack from a distance he needed to use throwing daggers (not Ragna's preferred style, but he got the hang of it), and if he wanted to avoid detection not only could he not use his **_Azure Grimoire_** abilities, he also couldn't perform any reflexes or techniques that might be considered above the other players. Despite the intense limiters Ragna was forced to take, he was actually managing fairly well against the enemies. He did need to let Agil help him more, but at the same time it felt surprisingly... human.

Anyways, the two managed to make it to the boss chamber without much incident, which had Ragna slightly worried. If they were wrong and the assassins didn't show up then they'd be wrong and it could lead to another string of murders. But until the boss of this dungeon was defeated, Ragna was willing to wait it out.

Ragna hadn't heard much about this dungeon's boss, but it certainly didn't look all that menacing. It was based on one of the generic oak elf enemies he'd encountered, however this one looked like it was better equipped. It was garbed in a brown hooded ranger's cloak with leather padding and oak plating underneath. It carried twin longswords in sheaths at it sides with a hunter's bow and quiver on his back. The name of the monster showed up as he drew his bow: _The Oaken Hunter._

Ragna and Agil both said nothing as they charged towards the elf. The boss quickly took three arrows out of its quiver and shot them at once, the arrows traveling at different trajectories. Ragna managed to block an arrow travelling at him with a longsword while Agil avoided the attack altogether. Ragna and Agil rushed forward as the Hunter started rapidly taking arrows at the two. Ragna allowed himself to get his as he closed the distance, just so that he wouldn't appear to have reflexes far above that of a regular human. Agil also took some damage as they closed the distance, but it was negligible. The elf jumped backward unleashing on last volley of glowing arrows as it shot multiple at once. Ragna took another arrow to his shoulder, but shrugged it off as his opponent landed.

The hunter reset the bow before taking out its twin longswords, twirling them around and connecting them at the hilt creating a double sword. Ragna and Agil got on either side of the monster to flank it and started attacking. The monster proved to be adept in combat as it blocked the attacks and twist the sword to divert the attacks and leave Ragna and Agil open for attacks. Ragna dodged, but Agil took the hit and retaliated by bringing his borrowed axe down and cutting into the creature taking out a good chunk of its health.

The monster spun back and slashed at Ragna's feet and Agil's head. The Grim Reaper deflected the attack and retaliated and Agil took a step back. The boss then jumped back to get itself out of the flanked position. Already it looked the monster was only at half health.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ragna saw movement outside of the boss room. _'Looks like Agil was right, they were waiting for us._ ' Ragna quickly took the anti-paralysis potion out of his cloak is quickly drank it. Once he was done (the taste was disgusting), he through the potion to the ground making it shatter as he ran forward and blocked the creatures strike with his longsword, granting Agil enough time to drink his potion. Once he had, Ragna pushed back against the attack and damaged the creature and then rushed forward with Agil and cleaved the creature as hard as they could.

The monster was still barely alive, but as Ragna and Agil went for a second attack the two felt something impact their backs, well Agil only felt the impact, but Ragna actually felt the dagger sink into the flesh of his back.

" _Grr…._ ' the Reaper grunted in pain as he faked falling on the floor, turning slightly so he could face the entrance. _'Come on Ranga, you've been through leagues worse than this. This isn't even as bad as it usually is; I don't think they got my liver… or my heart… or both of my lungs… or my stomach… or all of the above at once... Shit my life is effed up.'_

Ragna saw a few multi colored flashes as more throwing knives imbedded themselves in the _Oaken Ranger's_ chest finishing it off for completely and causing it to shatter like glass.

"Ohhhhhh too bad," a sadistic high voice called out with a snicker. From where Ragna lay he could see five figures in dusty cloaks with red marks above them, all of them holding weapons in one hand and teleportation crystals in the other. "So you're the famous prankster twins... Gotta say I LOVED that custard gag of yours." Another dagger thrown into Ragna's back (' _And THERE goes my liver...again.'_ ). "NOT. See you guys have really pissed us off with all of your pranks. I mean why try to erase the dread? Isn't that going to be the key motivator to get us out? People start to get careless you have zero progress and that's what we're here to stop. You get fear; people want to clear the game faster."

"Boss, we need to hurry," another assassin said. " _Dark Shield_ could show up looking for these morons and I don't want to have to face twenty knights at once."

"Oh please…" the first one said taking another dagger out of his cloak and twirling it in his hand. "Those pansies are too busy pissing themselves to come here. I want to enjoy this…" As he began approaching the two seemingly helpless victims he paused as he saw the player ID's when he was close enough. "Wait, where's the paralysis sym… BLOODEDGE!"

Ragna got up and lunged past the assassin in the fraction of a second. " ** _HELL'S FANG!_** " he shouted as his fist became covered in darkness. He smashed one of the assassin's teleportation crystals before sending out a wave of darkness that shatter the crystals from the other three. The force of the attack was enough to knock Ragna's hood off of his face.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" the assassin leader cried out as he tried to activate his teleport crystal. It was too late as Agil's borrowed axe cleaved through his own crystal container and destroyed it. He skirted away from Agil as quickly as he could.

" ** _Dark Shield_** happens to be run by a good friend of ours, and when you start offing players we take it personally," Agil said grimly as he rested his axe on his shoulder and removed his own hood. "So are you guys gonna come quietly?"

"Don't be so stupid," the leader said with a cocky smirk. "THEY'RE NOT GONNA KILL US! FINISH THEM AND RUN!"

 _'_ _Stupid morons,'_ Ragna thought as he looked at the four assassins he was facing. He'd dropped his longsword after he'd faked his earlier paralysis, so now he needed to rely on fisticuffs while Agil dealt with the leader.

The first assassin tried using a sliding slash from behind with a dagger, but Ragna sidestepped and tripped the user sending him sprawling into the wall. Another attacker leapt into the air to attack Ragna with a dagger, but the Grim Reaper uppercutted him with his fist and sent him lurching skywards, but then he grabbed his opponent out of the air by his leg and threw him into another opponent with a mighty swing. The fourth opponent came at Ragna with a frontal jab, but he deflected the blow to the side with his wrist before grabbing the arm, bringing his opponent in and blasting him in the gut. As the victim lurched back only slightly, the rest of the gamers started to regain their footing to attack Ragna from all sides, Ragna performed a destructive roundhouse kick that struck all of the assassin's in the face and sent them flying back into the wall. None of them were dead, but they we're all at critical health.

Meanwhile, the outcome Agil's fight was almost certain. While the assassin leader was more skilled than his fallen comrades and much faster, Agil's advantage with his weapon's range and his overwhelming attacks were pushing the murderer past his limits. As his opponent's dagger tried to hit Agil's neck, the ax man deflected the attack with the pole part of his weapon before bringing his axe down with enormous force. The assassin managed to block the attack, but his dagger scattered and the power was enough to send him airborne. Agil made a second swing with his weapon and struck his opponent with the blunt end, sending him flying past Ragna out of the boss dungeon.

"Well you got him," Ragna said with a small smirk before he turned to the assassins. The leader was trying to get up, assumedly to run, but Ragna sensed another player group incoming quickly. "Look, you're surrounded and you've got no HP left," he told the assassins as they brought out another set of weaponry. "Either give up now or do your last rights."

Ragna noticed a few members hesitating, but it was too slow as they were struck by multiple ranged projectiles from the approaching forces. Ragna tried to react, but proved to be too slow as four of the assassin's gave a scream and shattered into light particles, like it's been a monster or item that had been destroyed.

"N-NOO!" the head assassin screamed as he tried to escape the second group. He proved to be too slow as the other group's leader impaled him through with a claymore. "I thought… we had a de-" The sentence went unfinished as he shattered into light particles like the others.

"Looks like we made it just in time," the man wielding the Claymore said haughtily as he looked at Ragna with an ugly smirk. "Been a while, eh Ragna?"

"Zass," Ragna vented with a terrifying scowl.

"Zass?" Agil said in question directed to Ragna.

"He's with the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ and tried to recruit me on Floor Eight," Ragna informed, though he didn't avert his glare. "He didn't listen when I said no so I sent him running with his tail between his legs. Apparently this bastard's still butting into shit that he's not supposed to."

"That's no way to talk to anyone Bloodedge, especially not the man who just saved your life from these thugs," Zass said with a smile. "Look at you, in the red after only a mid level floor boss and a couple of common thugs. I wonder how the rest of the game's going to react with this news."

"You bastard! Do you even realize that you and your friends just murdered five people!?" Agil shouted.

"And whose fault is that?" Zass said with a shrug that gave the impression of 'these people.' "If I wasn't so concerned about saving you morons I could have brought them down easily. You're the person who-"

"I've just about had it with this first rate bullshit," Ragna interrupted. "I don't care how long it's gonna take; I'm bring you and your guild down Zass-hole! You're a murderer and I've got my heart set on putting you behind bars for good."

Zass visibly flinched from the conviction of Ragna's threat, but then regained his smug composure. "If I were you I wouldn't go around spewing cheap words that are likely to get you in trouble. You're not invincible; we've already seen that much today. If the entire game's your enemy you'll die, plain and simple." He then turned to his followers. "We're done here, let's head back to base."

After the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ had left, Agil turned to his new guild leader. "So it's obvious?"

"Knowing exactly what dungeon the assassins were going to be in? Showing up just when we're about to get answers just to kill them off? Not to mention that assassin was about to say _we had a deal_? And my other solution…"

"What's that?"

"Back in town you said that the people were too scared to head into the dungeons. Well I saw that there were groups still going into them, and every one I saw belonged to the _Alliance._ This was just a front to give themselves time to catch up on leveling."

"Dammit," Agil muttered under his breath. "And of course they went after **_Dark Shield_** ; out of the three giant guilds they're the one that's taken the least seriously. If they'd gone after the **_Knights of the Blood Oath_** , everyone would have reacted and tried to finish this problem ASAP. Problem is we don't have any dirt on them now."

"Yeah," Ragna said with a sigh. "Let's head back and let Diabel know what happened. Looks like we failed."

 ** _Daien Castle_**

Diabel was calmer than expected during Ragna's explanation. He didn't have any outbursts during his tale of the **_Holy Dragon Alliance_** and his conclusion of them having hired the assassins that killed so many of his own troops. Only when Ragna was finished did he finally speak.

"It's a shame, truly… I can't believe the lengths they would go to ensure a few extra levels… Where is their decency?"

"If they're doing this obviously they don't got any," Ragna said bluntly, and not too far from the truth. "So what now?"

"I'll present this information to my guild's council and we'll try to come up with a solution to uncover what dirty plots we can from the **_Alliance_**. We can't say anything outright, but we can't let this sit."

"Damn politics," Ragna swore. "That's it; I'm going to call them out on it."

"Call them out?" Diabel asked.

"I heard about the guild reports that some guilds write, and I'm going to do my first one on the bullshit these assholes are doing. All I need to do is figure out how to write one."

"Could work," Agil noted. "So you know how to write one?" No response. "'Course not."

"Well unfortunately I'm of no help to you," Diabel told him. "My reports are all taken care of by a member of the council and… he's no longer with us, as of recent events."

"Great…" Ragna groaned. "Looks like I'm going to have to deal with the devil, and me without my fiddle..."

"C'mon," Agil said slapping a hand on Ragna's shoulder. "It's just paying for another meal with Argo, you complain too much."

 _'_ _I wish it was only that bad,'_ Ragna thought glumly. "Well whatever, I'll get the message out. And Diabel?"

"Yeah?"

"...Just remember, it could've been worse," Ragna said as he left. Images of Lambda's willing sacrifice flashing before his eyes. This was a message he'd never really ever been able to get through to himself.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Diabel said with a sad smile. "And for what it's worth, your new guild has a new ally."

"Nice to know," Agil, a small smile on his face. "I've got head back and look over my shop, so I'll see you later Ragna."

"See ya," the Grim Reaper said as he exited the office.

 ** _Floor Nine: Restaurant_**

Ragna was twiddling his thumbs and trying not sweat as his 'guest' took another bite out of her salmon. He'd brought her here in order to keep things calm so he wouldn't get killed in public, but she hadn't said a thing since she'd gotten here making Ragna even more worried. As she took a last bite out of her salmon, she finally refocused her attention on Ragna.

"So let me get this STRAIGHT," Asuna said to Ragna, her tone absolutely _oozing_ venom. "First you KIDNAP Liz, then you take her to the FRONTLINES, and then you let her FIGHT BY HERSELF! **WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?** "

"Asuna," Ragna began, feeling somewhat afraid. He noticed several pairs of eyes in the restaurant were on them. "L-look, I need your help with something." Turns out that wasn't the correct thing to say because Asuna slapped him with an unarmed combat skill. "HEY! What the hell Asuna!?"

"YOU'RE ASKING ME FOR HELP NOW!? Why on earth do you think it's a good idea while I'm calling you out!?"

"Because you were the one that said I need to let people in and help out maybe?" Ragna suggested as he cricked his neck. "There goes the pop… look Asuna I need to know; how do I write a guild report?"

"Ragna why would you want to know that?" Asuna asked with a confused look. "The only way you could submit one of those report is if you're a high ranking official in a… guild?" Asuna stared at Ragna in curiosity while Ragna gave no response. "Okay, when did this happen?"

"Yesterday, after I _kidnapped_ Lisbeth," Ragna explained a little sarcastically. "Look, some shit just came up and I need to get the word out ASAP, so will you help me or not?"

"Okay, I'll help, but who else is in the guild?"

"Just me, Liz, and Agil, but I don't really have plans to make it that big. I'd invite you, but you've already got your own guild to worry about," Ragna explained.

"I do…" Asuna told him, a little… regretful? "Alright, I'll help you write the report this once but I get to decide what we're having for dessert."

"Done," Ragna agreed, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally realized the threat had passed. The slap to the face was a pain, but it could've been worse. "So what do you want?"

"How about pudding?" Asuna suggested. "I hear it's supposed to be phenomenal on this floor."

"Whatever," Ragna said as he ordered the pudding and began waiting for it to arrive.

"By the way, what about your guild symbol?" Asuna asked. "You had an option to make one right?"

"Yeah, and I made one, just had to disable it earlier today," Ragna told her as he tapped on his personal menu and reissued his guild symbol.

"Neat symbol, but what do you call your guild?"

" ** _Rebellion_**." Ragna actually smiled when he said it; it felt pretty damn badass.

"Seems to fit you," Asuna agreed with a smile as their desserts arrived. Two little pudding cups, for both Ragna and herself. "Something seems off with my pudding," Asuna noted as she looked into her cup.

Ragna took a look inside his own cup. Indeed it was wrong, instead of a dark brown hue of chocolate pudding or a white hue of vanilla there appeared to be a light yellow one. "Yeah, this doesn't look like pudding," he said as he grabbed a spoon to poke it. "Looks more like-"

As soon as Ragna's spoon made contact, the casing protecting the contents shattered, causing the dessert to go flying. Ragna's face was completely covered in the glop, and it looked like Asuna had already protected her face with her arms. Ragna slowly wiped his face.

"...Custard." Noticing Asuna's giggles he realized that she'd set him up. The custard covered Grim Reaper sighed to himself as a few of the restaurant patrons laughed. _'From badass to blunder in less than a minute… harsh.'_

 ** _Author's Note: Don't own Jack._**

 ** _The plot was kinda hard to write for this chapter, but in the end it was the small jokes that made this story worthwhile. Anyways, if you read a Reaper's Awakening you would have heard that I'm going to be doing Omakes of other BlazBlue character's after each chapter, so here's the first one._**

 _Envy_

Klein sighed as he sat at his bar table, alone. His guild mates had decided to go their separate ways after they'd completed today's quests, and quite frankly he hadn't thought it'd be that bad at first. A chance to grab a cold drink for himself and enjoy it without the usual loudness of the guild had been refreshing and kind of nice. But then… then _THIS_ asshole had shown up.

He really didn't think the guy was anything special at first, just another swordsman who was trying to come down and enjoy a good drink. The only thing that had offset him at the time was his large sword, and it was HUGE. The thing looked about at wide at the man wielding it and black blade was as tall as he was. Frankly, Klein was surprised that the guy was able to bring the thing inside the inn.

The man had taken a seat in the booth a few feet away from Klein and had ordered a beer. Klein noticed that when the waitress was about to walk away the man had given her a spiel of undying love or something like that. Klein had thought it was a cheesy as could be, but when the maid had turned away from the man Klein noticed that her face had turned a very deep shade of red.

Originally he'd shrugged it off, but then two ladies had walked through the door and they. Were. DROP DEAD GORGEOUS! Hair that shone, eyes that glowed, perfect skin, large breasts, ample thighs; they had it all! Klein knew, this was his chance! He had to talk with them, get their contact info, their names at least! But the other guy had been faster.

Like a bolt of lightning, he'd gotten off of his seat and approached the ladies with suave and charm. Within two minutes of talking with them he'd brought them both giggling back to their seats, which was the ultimate insult for Klein. If the other guy had at least left one of the ladies for Klein to talk to he would've been a little less peeved, but no. He didn't even get the second pick.

Looking at the womanizer now, Klein could see the guy had at least a few things going for him, a strong jaw, long dark spiky hair, and at least he wasn't ugly… But damn that cocky grin! Klein couldn't stand it! He allowed himself another sigh as his two targets began leaving the bar, both under the arms of Klein's new eternal rival.

Klein swore there'd be no light to be had in this hell, but then watched in surprise as the man's hand wandered a little too far south. The woman on his right arm shrieked as she quickly got out of his grasp and protectively grabbed her rump with her hands. The other girl got out of the man's other arm as he tried to explain himself. All Klein heard was the phrase 'my hand slipped' before his rival was sucker punched in the groin by both girls, an act that made every man in the bar cringe.

Klein had thought that you couldn't feel pain in SAO, but seeing the man fall to the ground wheezing in agony as the girls left, he could tell he wasn't faking it. The samurai smiled as he finished the last drops of beer in his tankard and left the bar, being careful as he stepped over the heap of a man on the ground. Funny… now he didn't feel quite so envious.

 ** _I don't hate Kagura, but I'm pretty sure I displayed his character on point in this short. Now for the review responses._**

 ** _Dread Grim Reaper:_** Get ready for the Rebel indeed.

 ** _Nero Angelo Constantine:_** Thank you!

 ** _Laxard_** and ** _Neutral40:_** Don't take this as a rant alright? Just explaining my reasoning. While I do see where you're coming from having played Devil May Cry myself, Rebellion is just a sword. Albeit, Dante's main sword, but it doesn't really represent for what he stands for. When I think Dante, I think Son of Sparda, Demon Hunter, and maybe Devil Trigger, but not Rebellion. Dante's a hunter, not a revolutionary (his father could be associated with Rebellion, but I'm not talking about Sparda).

Ragna, on the other hand, has always stood for rebellion, against the NOL, against Terumi's mind games, against fate itself. It has rules, Ragna rebels. Again, this is not a rant, I see where you both are coming from, but this is how I see it and why I feel the name would actually fit Ragna better.

 ** _Animeandgamerlover2:_** Quite a few people, we're already up to three.

 ** _Adv:_** It's what I plan to do, keep the romance slow, and let the story play itself out.

 ** _Hudson Yang:_** Not really to present of a design change, but it's part of a plan I have for down the line.

 ** _Monkiepawn_** : Oh, a new follower. Welcome to the stories that my mind churn out. Hell for the therapists, lovable for the readers.

 ** _Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One:_** Thanks for your review. I'm glad the you enjoyed the ideas for the chapter and I'll try to keep things interesting.

 ** _Darkus and Z:_** Update NOW!

 ** _DaemStafel:_** That's kind of what I was going for. To be honest, I've been given some flack on my decision to make Ragna the only BlazBlue character, but adding the others would actually mess up the story I have planned. This is why I've settled for writing Omakes.

 ** _Guardian of Light Lightus_** and ** _Zaralann:_** Thanks for the reviews guys. Short and sweet!

 ** _Until next time. Ciao._**


	15. Another Member

_**Blade XIV: Another Member**_

*Note: Bonus omake will be presented after the Author's Reviews.*

' _Almost feels like things are they way they usually were,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he walked down the streets of floor nine, getting the occasional glare from some players while others shied away from him and refused to look in his direction. Considering the report that he'd put out two days ago against the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ shortly after they'd put out a report about him nearly getting killed by one of the weakest dungeon bosses on floor seven, which hadn't even bothered to mention the player killers, Ragna kind of saw this coming.

On _Dark Shield's_ side, things had gone much better than expected. Diable was letting his members head into the dungeons and very few people had left the guild during the assassinations. While it was true that some had left out of fear, which was understandable, most had left for fear of their families in the game being targeted (who could blame 'em), but most of the members had stuck with the guild.

The biggest loss on both parties had been reputation, Diable had lost a considerable amount of credibility with the other guilds and was working to slowly gain that credibility back. Not many people had believed Ragna had been almost killed, but they did believe that he was currently at odds with one of the largest guilds of the game, hence why he was now avoided.

While Ragna was somewhat annoyed that the majority wasn't believing him and his story, at the very least he was able to get some time alone and no one was praising him, cause that felt just plain weird to him. After walking for a while he finally made it to his destination, where he glanced around for a moment before entering the building.

"Hey there Spikes," Sanae Hanekoma (the guy from The World Ends With You who was in Chapter Ten a bit ago for those of you that don't remember) said to the Reaper as he entered. "Been a while. Here for breakfast or advice?"

"Both," Ragna told him as he took a seat. "Can I pay with Col?"

"Eh, money doesn't really matter here for me," Sanae said before noticing Ragna eyeing a scone. "So I guess I'll cut you a decent price," he finished with a slightly smug smile as he grabbed the scone with tongs and put it in waxed paper.

' _Didn't he just say money didn't matter?'_ Ragna thought with annoyance before grabbing the scone from him. "You got any good coffee?"

"All my coffee is good," Sanae told him proudly. "What kind do you want? We got drip coffee, cappuccino, latte, mocha, espresso, macchiato, americano… What's your fancy?"

"Uh…" Ragna had just wanted a cup of joe, not a full menu's worth of options. He might be proficient as a cook, but coffee was one of those things he'd just sort of glossed over. "Just… coffee… just a plain cup of coffee… with cream."

"A cup of drip coffee with cream added in afterward then," Sanae before turning get the grounds and filter ready. "So what kind of advice do you need?"

"Hypothetically, how bad would it be to wipe out the _Holy Dragon Alliance_?" Ragna asked, causing Sanae to pause and glance back at him in a speculative gaze. "I haven't done it, alright? I was just asking."

"That's… well that wasn't what I was expecting," Sanae told him. "I honestly thought you were going to ask about the next materials you need or abilities you're going to obtain down the line. This… is darker."

"I know, but after what those assholes just pulled I'm tempted to wipe 'em out… well at least a select few people."

"Bad idea," Sanae told him before going back to working on Ragna's coffee. "I heard about the case of player killers, but they're still one of the top guilds in the game. You wipe them out, the rest of the system crumbles, anarchy follows, most of the population dies, and you're a wanted man again."

"So any advice?" Ragna asked as he took a bite out of his scone. "Hint of lemon?"

"Yep, they're a pretty big hit in my original shop," Sanae said, running the coffee machine. "But as far as what you can do (and I cannot believe I'm actually suggesting this), the best action I can recommend is to get in their way and try to get them to fight you. You get them pissed off enough and they'll focus everything on you instead of going after the others. Simple no?"

"But I just formed a guild…" Ragna groaned. "So that becomes a target too."

"Then make sure they're ready, make sure they know what they're getting into, and make sure they hate the Alliance just as much as you do." Sanae told him. "They'll stand with you and they can help you catch them in the act."

"So you're saying keep in contact with my guild," Ragna summarized as Sanae finished making a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "Thanks, so what else do I need to do?"

"Besides taking the time to level up and fight alongside them? I'd say you're good, just keep away from the Alliance in the meantime and things should turn out fine."

"Let me tell you now that you just doomed me by saying that," Ragna muttered before continuing to eat. "So basically it's a game of me trying to piss off one of the biggest guilds in this godforsaken death trap in order to get them to try and kill me, so I can catch them in the act."

"That pretty much sums it up," Hanekoma admitted.

"Just wanted to make sure I wasn't fooling myself," Ragna said before finishing the scone and downing his coffee. "Good meal at least, how much do I owe you?"

"200 Col."

"What?" Ragna blurted in surprise. "But you just said that you'd cut me a good deal!"

"I did, normally it'd be 250, but I went and took 50 off." Ragna growled lowly as he opened his menu. "Don't forget to tip."

"You're pushing it, you really are…" Ragna threatened before signalling with his finger to open the menu. He was about to send the Col to Sanae, but the receiver function came up as blank. "Wait a minute, why can't I send you the fee?"

The barista snickered. "You really think I have a use for byte money? I don't really have any uses or desires for a couple of zeros and ones Spikes."

"So you just keep screwing with me to make up for it? I oughta deck you," Ragna scowled.

"What was that?" Sanae asked whimsically as he cupped his ear with his right hand. "I thought I heard that you were offering to do me at least a dozen solids for info next time."

"...Maybe I'll just take it out on some monsters instead and get some exp for it," Ragna decided with an exasperated (if somewhat defeated) smile. "Later H."

"See you around Spikes," Hanekoma said as the Reaper left, closing the door behind him and leaving for the busy streets.

"Funny guy," he said after Ragna had left before sitting on a chair, leaning back, placing his hands behind his head, and simply gazing up at the ceiling. "This reality had its regular protagonist detained, his copy of this game fell into someone else's hands. The higher ups called this world ruined without the original hero, but…" he glances at you. "Sometimes you need a broken man to fix a broken world, remember that."

Outside the restaurant, Ragna walked down the street as he planned out his next move. There were still three dungeons left on floor 10 that hadn't been explored, so he could try going there and mapping them out and (if he felt like it) beat down the boss inside. It might be annoying to be on everyone's radar as a 'floor clearer' again, but at least he'd get some credibility against the Alliance.

While passing into the central teleportation area, a notification for a call came up in front of Ragna, revealing that Argo was calling him. ' _What's she want?'_ Ragna thought to himself in confusion as Argo never called. He answered the call. "Argo?"

"Hey Ragna," the infobroker said on the other side of the line. "Think you can swing by floor four? I uh… kinda need to see you."

"You need to see me? What the hell's going on?" Ragna demanded before grumbling. "Whatever, I'll see you on in a second, where can I find you?"

"It'll be hard to miss me, I'll be the one surrounded by members of that _Holy Dragon Alliance._ "

"...Dammit Argo, what did you- how did-" Ragna stopped and grumbled. "Fine, I'll see you in a few, just hold on until then."

"Please hurry," Argo begged as she ended the call.

"Fricken' great," Ragna groaned as he took out a teleport crystal so he wouldn't have to waste valuable time on the teleportation platform. "Teleport: Tent Town," he said before vanishing into a small flash of blue light.

 _ **Fourth Floor**_

As the light from the crystal faded, Ragna glanced around the town in high alert as he kept his eye out for members of the _Holy Dragon Alliance_. He didn't see that many people around the town as he knew they were most likely either in the fields or had taken to living on one of the floors higher up, so at least he wouldn't have to fight through crowds of people.

' _All right, let's see if I can find her using my friends list,'_ Ragna thought to himself as he opened his menu and brought out the map with a blimp notifying Argo's location. ' _Looks like she's on the south side of town, and that's a good distance from the Alliance's guild, but I can't say whether that's good or bad. Well whatever, I'll just have to book it there before something bad happens to her.'_

Ragna took off in a hurried sprint, a trail of dust left behind him in his haste. Even when he was running at full speed Ragna still felt… contained, limited, like the world itself was still putting barriers on his abilities. The Reaper knew he could break free of the BS rules of the system, but he had no idea when that would happen.

As he turned the corner, he saw Argo alright, surrounded by twenty-three rather upset members of the _Holy Dragon Alliance._ One of the members was holding Argo's arms from behind her as she struggled to get free. Ragna scowled as he recognized the man as Reku, a man who he'd seen about to propose to Asuna on floor nine, only to get shot down before he'd even started.

"Let me go!" Argo yelled as she struggled to get free.

"I don't think so," Reku told her with venom. "You really think you can give us cheap information and charge us a fortune for it? You should have realized what you were getting into."

"Oh, this is new," Ragna said aloud, alerting the guild to his presence. "You're actually outnumbering and threatening a player face to face where no one else can see you. What's wrong? Got tired of hiring player killers?"

"Bloodedge…" Reku vented. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well my friend there said she was in trouble, and I can see why," Ragna said, giving a look to Argo that clearly said _You're going to tell me what happened later._ "I thought you were part of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_."

"I was, but I got tired of having to listen to Miss Lightning Flash," Reku told him, not letting go of Argo as a few of his fellow guild members started to surround Ragna.

"You mean you were tired of getting rejected," Ragna said with a demeaning smirk. "Glad to see you can fit in with the rest of this pathetic guild. Let her go."

"I don't think so, you think that you're tough shit now that you're in a guild of your own? How many members do you have? Ten? Twenty?"

"Three," Ragna said, not caring about the rest of the members laughing at his low answer. "This is your last chance." Noticing that Reku was readying a teleport crystal, Ragna sighed. "Suit yourself."

The Reaper then spun into a roundhouse kick and sent one of the members flying into Reku, having the flying man give of a wilhelm scream as Reku let go of Argo and dropped his teleport crystal. Argo quickly got out of his grip and ran forward towards Ragna and hid behind the much taller Reaper.

Reku growled as he roughly shoved the person on top of him off as he glared at Ragna who made no further move against him. "So what now? Going to tuck tail, run away, and send another lousy report?"

"Run away?" Ragna asked as a dark aura started to be expelled from his right eye, and both of his irises began shining blood red. His arm gave a burst of shadow as it turned into a demonic claw of darkness causing several of the players to step back. When Ragna spoke his voice was much lower; much more threatening. " _ **I'm letting YOU go, got it?**_ "

The members of the guild were frozen as Ragna walked away with a mildly afraid Argo in tow. Once he was a good distance away, Ragna let the shadows dissolve from the dark claw, returning its form to that of his _BlazBlue_ arm. The Reaper shook his head, he meant to scare the guild away, not show them his darker side.

"So what was that?" Argo asked Ragna. "A new ability?"

"Something like that," Ragna told her ominously. "Now you tell me, what the hell did you do to piss them off? They said something about bad information."

"Weeeeeeeeeell," Argo began...

 _ **Flashback to that Morning**_

"So you have information concerning the upstart Ragna the Bloodedge and his new guild?" Drake, one of the three leaders of the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ asked the young woman seated in front of him. Drake was a tall man, just out of his teens dressed in white armor and a light jade green cape. He had altered his hair color so that it was shown to be an azure blue. His face was handsome enough, but his eyes were constantly narrowed in suspicion, no matter who he talked to.

"Would I be here if I didn't?" Argo asked rhetorically. "I've got the information right here for you so let's do this."

"Very well then, give me your information and I'll reward you as I see fit," Drake decided.

"Oh ho, I don't think so. Either you pay me first or I walk out of here, understand?" Argo threatened.

"You forget your place," the Guild Leader said with a demanding chuckle. "I've got several info brokers waiting in line for a chance to give me the information. Be grateful I decided to hear you out first."

"Really, I hear differently," Argo said with a small smirk. "You might have info brokers looking all over town for a chance to find out about Bloodedge and his rumored guild, but they don't have any idea where to look. I know Ragna, so that's why you're relying on me. Am I wrong?"

"...Very well." 1,000 col was transferred to Argo's account. "Now what can you tell me?"

"Well the guild's name is _Rebellion_ and Ragna's definitely the leader," Argo told him. "They'll be hard to find because they don't have any set uniform or a common place of meeting. Ragna would be even harder to find because he's never in town, always out clearing dungeons."

"Yes, yes, I figured that much," Drake said with a passive wave of his hand. "Now what else can you tell me?"

"That depends, how much more are you willing to pay me?" Argi asked slyly

"What? I already paid you a solid thousand!"

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to find another info broker then," Argo said with smile. "Just get ready to wait awhile. From what I can tell, most of them are just realizing that you can get a dungeon boss to respawn in the same day if you beat enough monsters in its dungeon."

"...You're playing a dangerous game," Drake threatened with a glare before sending another 800, knowing that the trick Argo had just mention was a somewhat outdated one, but known by only a select few. "Very well, what can you tell me about the players in the guild?"

"I know that there are very few members, not even breaking fifty," Argo told them.

' _So it's still small, we can probably deal with them without much trouble,'_ Drake thought to himself. "What else?"

"Pay the fee…" Argo said wryly.

"Forget it you minx," Drake spat back. "You've wasted my time and money, and for what? Telling me things about the guild I could of found out in a week? I'm going to destroy your career as an infobroker, so don't bother trying to con anyone else. Get out."

"Aw, but I have one last piece of info…" Argo said looking disappointed. "I can tell you about a specific new member who's going to try and join the guild, only 200 this time."

Drake paused; this information was much cheaper and he could still use details of a new member. Depending on whether or not this member came in would tell him about what kind of people _Rebellion_ was accepting. He decided that 200 wasn't all that much anyways and sent the money.

"Now you have the money," he said in a low voice. "You'd better give me the information and be SPECIFIC."

"Don't worry I will," Argo promised with yet another sly smile. "It's me."

"W-what?" Drake stuttered.

"I'm the new member that's going to try to join. Ragna's a friend of mine after all and I gave you the info you wanted." Seeing Drake at a clear loss for words, Argo grinned and left the tent. "See ya."

 _ **End Flashback**_

"You barely told them anything and you managed to get two thousand Col out of it," Ragna said before closing his eye and letting out an exasperated breath. "You know I don't like it when people gets scammed and I have to pick up the pieces."

"Even when the person getting _partially_ scammed pisses you off constantly?" Argo asked him in somewhat flirty tone.

Ragna allowed himself to grin. "Alright, maybe I can make an exception every now and again, but don't this a habit alright? I don't want to have to bust you out of every mess you get into."

"Don't worry, today was a one time thing and the only reason I needed you was they responded much quicker than I thought they would," Argo assured him. "So… am I in?"

"In? In what?"

"Your guild, I already told you I was on my way to join you, so am I in the guild?"

"I didn't think you were serious about that," Ragna said to her before realizing that if he did this he wouldn't have to buy her dinner every time he wanted some info. Plus, Sanae had told him to keep his friends close and this seemed pretty needed after the stunt Argo just pulled. "Alright, lemme just send you the invite."

Argo received the message and accepted the invitation, noticing the symbol that showed up immediately. "Cool, so now that I'm part of the guild what do you want to do? We can head to floor Ten and scout out one of the dungeons."

"I guess," Ragna shrugged, remembering what Sanae had said about needing to get the people in the guild their levels. "You got one in mind?"

"Yep, one that's on the far side of the floor so we only know about its location. Even if it's not the floor dungeon, chances are you could probably find a couple of really unique items there… Ones that would probably help me more than they would you."

"So that's your game," Ragna voiced aloud. "Well I could use some level experience and it's not like I have anything better to do anyways, so what the hell?"

 _ **Floor Ten**_

Ragna and Argo created their team and started walking around the tenth floor which was raining as usual. While Argo still had her hood to protect her, Ragna had to endure the downpour yet again and grumble to himself about 'finally buying a damn poncho.'

"Let's get going before I catch a cold," Ragna said as the two started walking towards the dungeon. ' _Wait, can I even get sick? I don't remember getting sick since I got my Azure Grimoire in my own world. No flu, no cold, nothing._ '

"Alright, think I'll lead though. After all I'm the clever one that knows where we're going," Argo told him.

"Suit yourself," Ragna shrugged as his hair yet again lost its gravity defying ability because of the rain. ' _Lucky I don't look much scruffier than usual.'_ "So what kind of dungeon is this?"

"It's an abandoned graveyard, one where players have reported sightings of skeletons. Sad, I was hoping we could find a ghost or some other spectral being."

' _Ghosts…'_ Ragna thought as he shivered and took a deep breath. ' _It's alright Ragna, she just said that there weren't any around the graveyard. I mean what are the chances, right? Well with my luck, pretty good...'_

"Are you paying attention!?" Argo yelled, snapping Ragna out of his earlier thoughts. "We've got company!" Ragna noticed the group of goblins approaching then as Argo stuck her hand inside her robe and pulled out her claw. "What's with you!?"

"I've got it! Geeze!" Ragna shouted as he quickly grabbed _Blood-Scythe_ out and swiped it in front of himself. ' _Wait, what am I doing? I can't use-'_ A Black Beast head erupted out of the ground and soared towards the goblins and destroying them all upon impact. '... _Apparently I can, but this feels like I'm using back when I was starting out. The system must be limiting my powers more than I thought.'_

"What the heck was that!?" Argo yelled as the result screen came up. "ANOTHER new technique?"

' _Honestly more of a staple one,'_ Ragna thought to himself before quickly coming up with an excuse for Argo's question. "Yeah, just got it last level. Still trying to work the kinks out of it though."

"There are kinks to that ability? You just wiped out an entire frontline group of monsters with just one blast! What kinks could there be to work out!?"

' _Well for one thing...'_ Ragna thought as he looked at his corruption gauge. That one use of _**Dead Spike**_ alone it'd already filled up a quarter of the way. "The description says that I can improve this a lot more if I learn to use it right, so I've got some work cut out for me."

"Learn to use it right?" Argo thought before her eyes became twinkled. "So that means you're going to be practicing with it a lot right now, right? We won't have to put much effort into killing monsters?"

' _Crap, I can't keep using this attack constantly, I don't want to know how the Azure's going to react.'_ "Well not really, I mean I don't want to rely on just this ability. You know, can't just be a one trick pony…" Ragna said laughing nervously.

"Seriously, what's with you today?" Argo asked Ragna in slight annoyance. "But if that's the way you want to do it, go ahead I guess, just know that you're the one keeping us out in the rain,"

"Just until we get to the dungeon right?" Ragna asked. Argo shook her head. "Is the dungeon out in the open?" Argo nodded. "Great… well whatever, let's just get out of here."

 _ **Later the Haunted Graveyard**_

"So we're here," Ragna said as he stepped into the abandoned graveyard with Argo. The tombstones were covered in ivy and vines and there were undug coffins everywhere. The entire area was encased by tall fences with spikes of the top which not only gave the dungeon it's walls but also forced the two to take certain turns. While there didn't seem to be any immediate threats, Ragna and Argo both took out their weapons in preparation for the oncoming threat.

"Any idea how long this dungeon is?" Ragna asked as the two began walking, _Blood-Scythe_ slung over his shoulder.

"No; when the players first reported this place they only went as far as to find the closest enemy encounter before leaving. We'll be exploring completely unexplored territory, so we'll find some decent grabs if nothing else," Argo told him keeping her throwing dagger drawn. "By the way my defense is pretty low, so I'll support you from long range."

"If it works," Ragna grumbled before noticing a shifting up ahead. he noticed several of the coffins opened, revealing skeletons wearing rotten leather armor and wielding rusted swords and shields. "Well this looks fun."

Ragna rushed and made a large backhanded slash with his sword and carved through the first line of opponents, but surprisingly they didn't shatter and only took a quarter damage. The skeletons retaliated with sword slashes, but the Reaper managed to block all but one strike with his sword before simply deflecting the last one with his fist. After Argo threw three knives and stuck the He then forced the skeletons back before stabbing his sword through one of the skeletons, but the monster was still alive.

"You can't these thing like that!" Argo shouted before throwing another dagger and striking another skeleton. "These things have a high damage resistance! The only way you can ignore it is if you hit them with a hammer!"

' _Hammer? Damn it I don't have one,_ " Ragna thought to himself in annoyance. ' _Note to self, next time I see Liz, ask what she has in stock, but for now...'_ He glanced at _Blood-Scythe._ ' _Hope this works.'_ "Batter up!"

Ragna swung Blood-Scythe with both hands and instead of cleaving through the skeletons with the edge of the sword, he shifted the sword slightly so that he hit them with the blunt end and bludgeoned them. It ended up doing the trick because the monsters immediately shattered. Ragna then swung his arm forward into a _BlazBlue_ charged haymaker and struck another skeleton and destroyed it.

"Time to finish this! _**Gauntlet Hades!**_ " Ragna shouted as he flung himself with a darkness covered kick and struck the final skeleton in its skull, causing it to shatter. Ragna smirked as the result box came up revealing his biggest XP gain outside of a solo boss battle.

"That was your idea to beat them? Use the blunt end of your sword?" Argo asked him before going to her menu and bringing up her notes to put up a new section. "That's an interesting tip, this info could sell for good money."

"If you got the other half of col from this battle then you should be set for at least a few meals," Ragna said before remembering the bill he usually got whenever he had to treat Argo. "On second thought maybe not, you might need to charge a premium to feed yourself for a day," Ragna smirked.

"Oh be quiet you, or should we talk about how easy it is to get you to pay?" Argo asked, returning the smirk.

"I kinda have to pay," Ragna told her as the two headed out for the end of the dungeon. "Otherwise I feel like I'm starving one of the kids on floor one shorty."

"Nice," Argo said with a roll of her eyes. "Let's keep going, seeing you so drenched is starting to make me feel cold."

' _Just imagine being frozen inside a chunk of ice,'_ Ragna thought, remember all of the times he'd fought his brother and had been momentarily frozen. As the two made their way through the graveyard he saw something that reminded him of his home world, a giant black tower reaching for the sky. "Hey Argo, what the hell is that?"

"No clue, not a lot of people have seen it because the terrible weather conditions on this floor, but judging from this distance it looks like it's coming from this graveyard," Argo glanced at Ragna. "Something wrong with it?"

"Too much," Ragna told her. "But we need to check it out, something tells me that this thing is going to be what gets us to the next floor."

"And you keep telling everyone that you hate the attention," Argo sighed. "You realize what's going to happen if you do this, right?"

"That's why I'm bringing you," Ragna said with a smirk. "If I tell them I had help I'll look at least a little human."

 _ **Center of the Graveyard**_

The leader of _Rebellion_ and his third member, entered the center of the graveyard which appeared to be a large clearing. There were no undug coffins or open grave for skeletons to crawl out of, only a few dead trees at the corners of fencing. At the center was the black object from earlier. Ragna approached the object and narrowed his eyes as he got closer. There were names on this thing that started from the ground and work it's way higher, it was a black tombstone, or a list on a tombstone.

"This is wrong," Ragna said darkly as he continued to examine it. A sudden spark of darkness erupted from the pillar, then another, then a bolt, then a collection of bolts. "Get back!" Ragna shouted as he quickly rushed away and covered Argo using his back as a shield before the pillar broke apart completely and fell to the ground as a dark, shadow-like material.

(Cue gvgkid's _Rebellion_ Remix off of YouTube)

"What the hell's going on?!" Argo demanded, that was before the material started to become lit as dark fire, which was unaffected by the rain. "Ragna?"

"Something tells me we just woke up the boss," the drenched man scowled as the flames began forming a body, one that looked like a kneeling human in shape, but was one made completely of darkness. ' _This isn't a ghost Ragna, this isn't a ghost, THIS IS NOT A GHOST!'_

The body slowly rose to a standing position, while the dark flames emitted around its body. It faced Ragna and Argo and eyes of pure white shone through on its head shown through at them in a bloodthirsty glare. Above the monster appeared it's name: _Malevolent Regret._ Beside it instead of health bars the number 2,257 appeared.

The monster gave a feral shriek like a banshee lunged forward. Ragna brought his sword up and block the punch that was aimed for his face, but the shock was was enough to send his info broker stumbling back. Ragna held his ground as the boss tried to send a shattering kick into his ribs, which he blocked with his arm.

' _See, it can touch me, ergo NOT a ghost!'_ Ragna thought as he forced _Malevolent_ off of him and spun his body into a sword slash. "JUST DIE!" he shouted while slashing upward with his sword and sent the monster off it's feet before smashing his blade to the ground. "GET UP!" Ragna said as he reset his blade, picked the monster off the ground, and sent it sprawling away with a punch to the gut. " _ **HELL'S FANG!**_ " The Reaper caught his still stumbling opponent with a dark fist before sending out the black wave that followed. "You like that?!"

The monster quickly rose to it's feet, the number now reading 2,075. From behind Ragna, Argo through one of her daggers at the monster, hitting it in the chest and knocking its HP down to 2,043. Its body was coated in flames again as it's body changed from again, now appearing to be a shadow of a human being wearing light armor and wielding a greataxe.

"What the hell?" Ragna muttered as the creature's shadowy weapon charged with a pale white aura before rushing him with an attack skill. He blocked the initial strike before the monster charged up a _**Power Smash**_ attack and lashed at Ragna a second time. The Reaper defended against the attack using his barrier, but the force was still enough to send him sliding back a few feet.

"I've got him!" Argo shouted rushing forward with her claw equipped. While the monster was recovering from his last attack Argo ran forward and slashed across the shadow being and sent his health down further. She then ducked as the axe went over her head before cutting him again across the chest before out maneuvering the being and attacking it from behind. The monster grunted as it leapt into the air with the flames over its body become stronger. When it landed it appeared to be wearing a strange cloak and dagger set made out of its own shadows.

The creature managed to leap the entire distance to one of the fences, before leaping off of it and rushing at Ragna much faster than before. The Reaper rolled out of the way, but then monster managed to leap directly off the opposite wall and soared towards Ragna's exposed back. It was intercepted by another one of Argo's throwing daggers which impaled itself in its head and caused it to slow.

" _ **DEAD SPIKE!**_ " Ragna shouted, sending out another Black Beast head which blasting into _Malevolent Regret_ and sent it flying into the air. He then dashed forward and grabbed the creature by its leg and slammed it to the ground with enough force that it bounced upward enough for Ragna to roundhouse the creature away with the number now reading 1,456

As the boss rolled on the ground its form changed yet again, now when it stood it appeared to be wearing a set of heavy knight's armor, complete with a cape and a horned helmet. On its left arm was a black kite shield while it wielded a longsword in its other hand.

"How many damn transformations am I going to have to fight through!?" Ragna shouted as his opponent rushed towards him and Argo once more. It's sword glowed white as it rushed forward with a sword lunge. Ragna guarded against the attack before _Malevolent Regret_ unleashed a sword combination of several slashes at intense speeds from several directions. Argo tried to flank the monster, but it's shield then began to glow as it bashed it into Argo sending her back.

"You're getting annoying!" Ragna yelled at the creature before striking at it with fist, but the monster blocked with its shield. Ragna then stabbed his sword downwards, striking at its feet before flipping his sword upward, sending the boss into the air. His sword glowed as he threw it, using his **Spiral Blade** technique to hit the monster several times in the air before leaping up itself and blasting the monster into wall with his fist, causing it to bounce back towards him after the impact.

"Let's end this!" Ragna shouted as he caught his weapon and activated **Power Smash** with the blunt end, sending the monster up into the air. While it was airborne, Ragna quickly shifted _Blood-Scythe_ into its scythe form. He roared as he swung at the now falling boss, impaling it in the chest and powerfully brought it the ground causing the monster to shatter into light. "Loser," Ragna grunted as he rested his scythe on his shoulder.

(End theme)

"You're a monster," Argo muttered as the congratulations sign came up as well as the result screen. "Still no level up for me… I guess the level ups are starting to be hard to come by. What about you?"

"Just made it to level 35, but I've been fighting like crazy these past few days," Ragna said as he took a look through the specifics. ' _Looks like I gained another ability. This one's called_ _ **Double Jump**_ … _Let's see; using Ars Magus, lighten your body and a create enough momentum to leap while you're in midair. Simple, but I can probably use it pretty effectively. Since it says I'm using Ars Magus, it looks like it's another ability only for me.'_

"So what do you think was the deal with that boss anyways?" Argo asked.

"Well that number thing was weird, and that tombstone," Ragna thought it over for a moment. "How many players have we lost?"

"You mean that THING was a reminder of how many players we lost? That's… really dark. I guess with a name like _Malevolent Regret_ it makes sense, but… harsh."

"Harsh is one word for it, I've got others," Ragna said darkly before the ground where the tombstone had been started to shimmer, revealing a shimmer circle that looked like it was some kind of portal. "This must be our ticket to floor eleven. At least we got that."

"Yeah, at least there's that," Argo agreed. "By the way, what was the last hit bonus?"

"Let's see," Ragna said as he brought the item out, which appeared to be a ring made of dark obsidian. "Ring of shadows… I guess this gives you a boost to your sneaking skill when you're wearing it."

"Useful," Argo said. Ragna noticed that she seemed to have a pleading look in her eyes and chuckled.

"Here," he said placing the ring on Argo's finger, causing the young infobroker to yelp. "What now?"

"R-Ragna, don't do that! The game might think-!"

A pop-up message appeared in front of the two. Ragna's read: _Congratulations! You have just proposed to Argo!'_ Argo's, on the other head, said: _You've accepted Ragna's proposal! Make sure you two decide on a wedding ring for your future husband to wear!'_

"...What?"" Ragna could barely say, his face blank before going in mix between feral and surprised. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? How the hell did this happen! I just wanted to give you the ring!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have put it on my finger!" Argo shouted as she pulled the ring off. Once she had, the messages in front of the two disappeared. "There! The proposal should be cancelled...NEVER talk of this to anyone!"

"I won't!" Ragna said as he was just surprised. The two then walked into the portal to open up the teleportation platform, both refusing to look at each other and their faces a deep crimson.

Though she was an info broker, there was one VERY important part about the system that had alluded Argo's sight, one that she'd heard before, but had simply brushed off: When you propose or get proposed to, an automatic message is sent to both parties contact lists. And considering all Argo's contacts as an info broker...

 _ **Author's Note: Don't own BlazBlue, or SAO. For the battle theme, gvgkid on YouTube does a lot of projects similar to this remix, including completely new fan themes for characters. Be sure to check his channel out when you get the chance.**_

 _ **So here's the story that got second place in the polls. What about that ending, eh? Didn't see that one coming did you?**_

 _ **The next story to be updated will be A Reaper's Awakening again as it won the poll. Also, I'll be taking down the Poll information chapter in this story in about a week, just so it doesn't clutter the rest of this. Now for review responses (not including voter reviews FYI).**_

 _ **Primus1661: An interesting request...**_

 _ **Shirosaki Kizuro: Remember that this is post-endgame Ragna. He's matured a little, but he still wanted to wipe those guys out. He just managed to hold himself back and make sure he knew what he was doing. Plus, he doesn't exactly enjoy killing people.**_

 _ **TheGrayKing27: No… Ragna only had the same JAPANESE voice actor as the Gear Maker. English dub is a different story.**_

 _ **Marconator360: There's a lot of things to take care of down the line, and even I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to handle Zass's development or Asuna's confession. It'll be an adventure for everyone I guess.**_

 _ **Larxard: This is probably a better ongoing discussion for another time, but I guess for now just give the guild name a chance. If you see Ragna using it enough down the line maybe you'll get used to it.**_

 _ **Zaralann: I already told you via PM that it was an Omake, hopefully you aren't confused by this one.**_

 _ **Guardian of Light Lightus: Thanks Mate.**_

 _ **Asterfernal: Well here it is. Luckily the update pace won't be influenced too much by the Poll.**_

 _ **Guest: Bullet x… Carl? I'm not really sure I'm the best person to be writing this. I know Carl's character well enough, but I can't really decided on a way that he'd manage to get with Bullet. But to your last remark, ALL HAIL THE REAPER. ALL HAIL… Damn, I've been listening to too much**_ _ **Welcome to Nightvale**_ _ **.**_

 _ **Adv: Thank you, enjoy this Omake.**_

 _ **Sargent Falco: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And yes, Kagura is prime for dating humor.**_

 _ **Inciacci: If you think about it, what else was he there for?**_

 _ **Donkike07: I'm tempted to do that, believe me, but at the same time I don't see it making much sense. If that characters wouldn't be able to jump worlds, why would their weapons? I'll be sure to show off a few character's in the Omakes.**_

 _ **Anyways, I'm feeling good and generous, so I'm going to make today's Omake follow the request I got in the reviews. I made the Omake a bit longer than I'd meant to, but I guess it managed to turn out okay all the same. Enjoy!**_

 _Gonna be Crazy_

"Finally, a day to myself," Ragna said as he laid on ground on floor one. He decided that he'd finally take a well deserved day off to spend however he saw fit. In his home world he'd usually either cook or go to a bar in a vain attempt to get drunk (it never worked), but today he decided to simply lay out in one of the safe zones in the floor one field.

The weather was sunny, there weren't too many players using this area to train so all he need to do was lay down, kick up his feet, and relax.

"Oh Raaaaaagna," came a familiar voice. Ragna had been mere seconds away from falling asleep, but now he was on high alert, a small shiver going down his spine, sweat starting to form despite the cool wind. "Raaaaaaaaaagna…"

' _Just ignore it,_ ' Ragna thought as remained still and silently prayed. ' _If I play dead she won't bother me, right? C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…'_

"RAGNA!" the voice shouted as Ragna felt a powerful blow to his chest. He painfully exhaled and saw and opened his eyes, seeing it was very well the young, smiling, lady he'd thought it was. She'd apparently landed on his chest while he was sleeping. "Hey there sleepy head, guess who's here?"

"Nu? How in the hell did you get here?" he demanded, pushing the Murakumo unit off of him. As usual, she was wearing her grey jumpsuit with her kunai covered cloak.

"Nu doesn't really know the details," she told him. "All she knows is that when Nu showed up here the first thing she did was look for Ragna, and guess what? She found him!" Despite Nu's radiantly glowing smile, Ragna couldn't help but cringe. This would usually be the part where got impaled in the chest with a giant blade that could slow his healing factor. "Now that Nu has you…" she continued, now blushing beet red. "We really need to-"

"Gotta go!" Ragna shouted as he immediately got to his feet and took off running for the hills.

"Ragna wait!" Nu called to him as she took off running a well, having to go barefoot. The two exited the safe zone as Ragna took off towards the first town, Nu somehow being able to keep up to speed with him with her determination.

Meanwhile inside the town, Agil and Klein were walking around trying to find the new dungeon.

"Are you sure the info's good?" Klein asked the axe user. "Seems like a stretch to me."

"It better not be," Agil told him. "I cut the man who gave me the info a good deal at my shop so I've already got an investment in this. Now if we can just find the building he mentioned…" He noticed the sudden red blur speed by. "Ragna?"

"Hey guys! Sorry, can't stop!" Ragna called from over his shoulder.

"What's gotten into him?" Klein asked confused before a gray blur whizzed by.

"Ragna wait! Nu just wants to cuddle with you!" a young lady's voice shouted.

"Huh, guess he's got another fan," Agil noted.

"Lucky bastard…" Klein groaned. "I'd give anything to be in his shoes now."

' _I'd give anything to get out of this!'_ Ragna thought to himself as he continued to run. He then grabbed out a teleport crystal. "Teleport: Floor Eight!" As Ragna disappeared in a flash of light, Nu came to a stop.

"Aw where did Ragna go? Nu was hoping to talk with him some more," the Murakumo unit said before remembering the people he'd passed by. "Maybe those two can help Nu!"

 **Floor Eight**

Ragna breathed a sigh of relief as he appeared on the floor eight teleportation stand. He could catch his breath here and if Nu came after him he'd have plenty of space to run in this wide open field. This floor was mostly abandoned anyways so things could've been much worse. After walking into the field for a few minutes noticed a small flash coming from the teleport stand.

' _Damn, looks like she managed to find me after all,'_ Ragna thought with a sigh as he prepared to take off running again. ' _Wait a minute, where'd she find a teleport crystal anyways?_ '

Back on the platform Nu glanced around looking for her Ragna. "Where did Ragna go? I know he said floor eight. It was nice of those two to help Nu out.

' _Why did we help her again?' Klein asked back on floor one._

' _Simple, because she's Ragna's problem now,' Agil told him. 'That and did you see that glare she gave us? I am NOT getting between her and Ragna, even if he is my guild leader.'_

' _She was smiling to me,' Klein muttered._

' _Then you weren't really looking,' Agil shuddered. 'Trust me, that chick is SCARY."_

"Now to find Ragna," Nu thought as she looked around the floor before noticing the man in a red coat off in the distance. "Ragna!" she shouted as she took off running towards him again. She passed through the safe zone and continued to run in hopes of closing the distance. As she approached though she noticed several flashes of light that resulted in several orcs appearing in front of her.

"Monsters?" Nu said in confusion before her expression turned fierce with her yandere wiles. "Nu's looking for Ragna! Get out of my way!" she shouted, waiting for her giant sword to appear behind her so she could equip her Murakumo armor. But that never happened, he armor never fused to her, her sword never appeared, she was left standing in front of the orcs defenseless.

"Wh-what's going on?" Nu asked before an Orc rushed forward and activated a skill with its axe. She tried to dodge, but her inexperience at fight without her armor proved too much as the axe cut across her chest, giving off the slash animation and filling her body with pain. Nu screamed as she fell back, the orcs slowly continuing to approach her.

' _No, Nu can't die here… Nu hasn't… hasn't…_ "RAGNA!" she cried out as the orcs raised their axes.

"Get down!" she heard Ragna's voice shout. Nu felt the wind hit her as Ragna cut through all of the Orcs with his scythe, defeating them all in that single slash. A small result screen appeared in front of Nu with some numbers and a message that she'd leveled up, but she was too preoccupied staring at the Reaper who saved her. "What with that look?" Ragna said gruffly, refusing to look at her as he reset his scythe to sword form and put it back on his belt. "If I let you die it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth, alright?"

"RAGNA DOES CARE!" Nu shouted as she tackled her love interest with a flying hug. Ragna cringed at the sheer force behind the embrace, praying to god that his ribs didn't crack from the titanic force that was Nu's hug.

"Nu, let go!" he said try to push her off of him. Half of him even considered to try using _Blood-Scythe_ as a crowbar.

"Nope!" Nu said as she smiled and continued hugging Ragna. The Reaper groaned, what had he gotten into this time?

 _ **Later: Liz's Shop on Floor Four**_

"...So long story short, she's part of the guild now," Ragna told the members of _Rebellion_ exasperatedly as Nu stood next to him lovingly holding his arm, having refused to let go of him thus far.

"So she finally caught you huh?" Agil asked with a small chuckle.

"Shut up! You and Klein were the ones that helped get me caught!" Ragna shouted at the axe user.

"Well this seems to be a pattern either way," Argo said as she shrugged casually from Ragna's right side. "You try your best not to, but you keep on impressing way too many players and getting attention and plenty of fans to go with it."

Ragna growled, but said nothing, knowing his info broker had a point. Of course this one couldn't really be attributed to his recent victories, Nu had always been crazy about him, always thinking of him even before the two had actually met.

"Though she definitely seems like one of the more passive fan types," Lisbeth cut in. "Out of all the girls I've heard of noticing Ragna, she certainly seems to be the most… straightforward."

"What? Ragna has fans?" Nu asked, looking up at Ragna in surprise. The Reaper was honestly just as confused as he was. He was just a mysterious, floor clearing guy who'd been called out on both hacking the game and creating tension between his guild and the _Holy Dragon Alliance._ "Are you two fans of Ragna's?"

"Hmph, hardly," Argo denied. "He's just my friend and guild leader, not my idol."

"He's cool and all, but I wouldn't say I'm his fan," Lisbeth answered for herself.

It's unclear whether or not Nu believed the two girls, or if she even heard them because she let go of Ragna's arm and looked up at him sweetly. "Can Ragna wait outside with Agil? Nu has something she needs to say to the two."

"Uh, alright," Ragna said, desperately hoping to that she suddenly go berserk and attack the girls. Then again, they were inside a safe zone, so any attacks would've been useless anyways. "C'mon Agil."

The two warriors waited outside the tent for several minutes, both unable to hear what was being said inside. When the tent finally opened, Nu emerged smiling radiantly as always. Very unsure of what was going on, Ragna peered behind her inside the tent and saw Liz and Argo, huddled together in the corner with wide eyes, positively shivering with fright.

"What the hell did you say to them!?" Ragna demanded.

"Nu just wanted to set some ground rules for Ragna," Nu said, not letting her smile drop as she quickly grabbed Ragna's arm once more.

' _Crazy! So very crazy!_ ' everyone else in the room thought.

 **Well that's all from me. Until next time guys! Ciao!**


	16. An Odd Day If Nothing Else

_**(ODD REQUEST: I know that some of you already got your imported copies of Central Fiction, but please. NO SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS! I haven't gotten my copy yet. Thank you, and enjoy.)**_

 _ **Blade XV: An Odd Day If Nothing Else**_

Ragna yawned as he got out of the bed he'd rented on an inn on the eleventh floor. After managing to clear a dungeon the day before he figured it wouldn't hurt if he allowed himself to turn in early and let himself get some rest. Since neither Ragna nor his clothes seemed to ever emit any body odor, he'd taken to sleeping in the clothes he wore during the day. And given his usual hairstyle, he didn't seem to look any worse off for not combing it.

' _So what's the plan for today?'_ Ragna thought to himself as he headed down the steps to the restaurant below. Because he'd just unlocked the floor yesterday, word hadn't gotten out all the way and at the moment the floor was uncrowded leaving him as the only patron in the restaurant.

Taking a seat at a table in the back, he waited for someone to arrive and take his order. ' _I guess I could walk around town before heading to the fields; didn't get too good of a look at the area yesterday, but the theme doesn't look that much different from floor one. Maybe I could try getting a couple of levels there once I'm out there or try to force a few of my old abilities out of the system; there's still too much I can't do.'_

He was alone with his thoughts for only a moment as he heard footsteps approaching and saw a Non-Player waitress in a slim maid's outfit with caramel ponytail that went down to her waist. She was smiling at him, seeming a little more cheerful than the Reaper had remembered most waitress were in the deathtrap game.

"What can I get you for breakfast?" she asked him.

' _What the hell is with her? Even her tone's oddly cheery,'_ the leader of _Rebellion_ thought to himself before shaking the thought out of his head. "I'll have a cup of joe and some eggs; over easy."

"Are you sure that'll be it?" the woman asked him.

' _Am I forgetting something here?'_ Ragna thought with slight suspicion. "I guess some toast to go with it would be nice."

The waitress nodded and the Reaper waited for the notification to come up so that he could pay for his food. It did, but as he went to the waitress put her hand out.

"It's on the house today, my treat," she said to him while she had the smile on her face, leaving Ragna in further confusion as she walked away.

' _What the hell is this?'_ Ragna continued to think as the occasional person started coming down from the rooms upstairs. ' _Is she just giving me special treatment because I cleared floor ten yesterday? When I've cleared a floor in the past I've got compliments sure, but no one gave me shit.'_

Though the restaurant quickly began getting crowded, he didn't have to wait long before the waitress soon brought the meal out and told him to enjoy, which the Reaper simple returned with a hesitant nod. He cut into the warm eggs with his knife and took a bite of the eggs while the warm yolk leaked out. The eggs were done nicely and he managed to savor them and appreciate the fact that for once he wouldn't have to pay for a meal and this time it wouldn't come back to cause him strife.

As Ragna finished chewing his bite of eggs he was somewhat surprised that he wasn't hearing any conversations in the restaurant despite several group that had shown up for breakfast. Taking his mug of coffee in his right hand he brought his head up to find that almost everyone in the restaurant; patrons and member of the staff alike, were staring at him.

' _What're they looking at?'_ Ragna thought to himself as he took a sip of his coffee, noticing that it was much more bitter than he'd have preferred, but he'd forgotten to add milk. ' _This is_ _probably 'cause I cleared a Floor Dungeon yesterday, I swear to god this is really getting on my nerves…'_

The Reaper tried his hardest to ignore the other patrons as he resumed eating his food, eventually the other groups began hushed conversation. Though Ragna could've easily heard them if he tried or even paid attention, but he wasn't one for gossip so all he did was focus on the most important meal of the day. With no one to talk to while he ate, he didn't take him long to finish eating.

' _That was actually pretty good,'_ Ragna thought as he wiped up the last of the yolk with his final bit of toast and ate it. Letting out a sigh of contentment as the waitress collected his dishes (while she was still smiling), he was about to stand to walk out the door before hearing a cluster of footsteps walking towards him.

"Excuse me?" a voice said to him.

Ragna turned to a group of players dressed in lower ranking clothing. There were five of them; two brown haired boys in medium armor, a boy in a dark yellow cap and a black beanie, a boy with long hair wearing a cap, and a blushing girl with dark hair equipped in armor of a much lighter color.

"Something you need?" Ragna inquired curtly.

"I...I uh," the boy in the beanie seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "Look we just wanted to thank you for looking out for Argo."

"Oh...alright," Ragna responded eventually. ' _Are they thanking me from saving her from the_ _Holy Dragon Alliance_ _yesterday? I didn't think word about that would get out so quickly… or at all. Argo must've been putting info out like crazy.'_

"No seriously," a dark armored man with brown hair said to him. "We're the _Moonlit Black Cats_ , a lower ranking guild of only a few members, but we've been worse off. Back when we were first starting off we were pretty far behind in levels from the rest of the game. I didn't think we'd ever have a chance to keep up with the top guilds, but thanks to some tips from Argo we're actually managing to catch up with some of the higher ranked guilds in levels."

"Don't be lax just because you're catching up," Ragna said as he stood. "Game's not over yet and if you want to be on the front lines you're going to need the stats _and skills_ to stay alive."

"W-well do our best," the nervous girl said to him, not making eye contact with Ragna as he walked out of the door. "A-and congratulations!"

"Whatever," he said as he exited the building. Ragna had barely made it a few steps down the streets before he thought of those last words that were said to him. ' _Wait, congratulations… what the hell are they congratulating me for?'_ The Reaper briefly though back to what had happened yesterday and when he remembered his 'proposal' to Argo the Reaper's face went crimson. ' _Nah, can't be that; Argo and I were the only ones who were there and I doubt she'd be telling anyone. They were probably just congratulating me on clearing Floor Ten, yeah that's gotta be it.'_

Though the feeling of insecurity was still plaguing him, Ragna shooks the feeling off of himself and continued to head around the town to get a general idea where everything was.

 _ **Meanwhile at the Legion of Do- *Ahem* I mean the Holy Dragon Alliance**_

"This is getting out of hand," Wyvern said to the two other leaders of the Alliance as he sat at the guild's main meeting table. He had short blonde hair, light blue eyes and like the other leader's he wore his white guild's armor, but his cape was a deep blue. " _Bloodedge_ was already a problem when this game first started and he was a solo player, but now that he's forming his own guild he's a threat."

"Though the guild's hardly big enough to be considered a front lines team, but somehow they've managed to clear floor after floor with very few members," Drake continued. "He's calling us out for hiring player killers and he even seems to have connection to both _Dark Shield_ and the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ and that's not even going into the countless techniques that he's unlocked… There's no telling just how dangerous he actually is."

"And more and more people are even paying attention to him," Wyrm said to the others. With his shaggy black hair, his unusual eyes that were changed to have purple irises with an accessory, his black cape, and the large greatsword he used it was clear he held great influence in the game. "Have you heard the rumors floating around the floors? It's all anyone's talking about and I'm not sure if it's just a ploy to get attention or not, but he's got everyone listening to it."

"We all know he's a problem, that much is certain… now how do we handle him?" Wyvern asked.

No one answered the question, all three appeared to be deep in thought… at least until the door suddenly burst open, revealing a woman in black leathers and crimson red hair. She seemed to have a rather vicious look on her face, even if she didn't have a weapon drawn.

"Are you lost?" Drake demanded angrily. "This is our meeting room, get out of here!"

"I'm not lost, I came here to talk with you boys and that's what I'm going to do," the woman said with a smile that was both haughty and seductive. Coming out of the doorway behind her was Zass and Reku.

"Sorry sir," Zass said in apology. "We told her that you were in a meeting but she just forced her way past without listening."

"Unbelievable, you can't even stop one person," Wyvern scolded, shaking his head before turning to the woman in question. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name's Rosalia, I'm leader of a guild called _Titan's Hand,_ you might've heard about us here and there."

"Yes, we've all heard about your guild and those _rumors_ about your shady dealings, though I remember hearing about you clearing a dungeon on floor ten," Drake said though he seemed unimpressed. "The question is what do want with us and why should we listen to you?"

"I was simply hoping to align myself with one of the top guilds in the game," Rosalia said as if it was obvious before smiling cruelly. "That and with someone that shares my hatred for a certain _Bloodedge_ character…"

Drake and Wyvern raised their eyebrows at the proposal before turning to Wyrm. He held his hand together in front of his mouth and appeared to be mulling over the offer. Eventually he came to a decision and smiled.

"Please _friend,_ take a seat; I think we have a lot to talk about."

"Sir, are you certain?" Reku asked. "There's no telling what-"

"That will be all Reku, and you too Zass," Wyrm told them, waving passively. "Go stand guard and try to make sure that you don't let anyone else by you this time, alright?"

Cringing at the accusation, both members glanced at each other before glaring at the woman who was simply smiling innocently before storming out of the meeting room and shutting the door behind them, leaving their guild leaders to plot with the outsider they'd let inside.

 _ **-Floor Eleven's Starting Town: Willania-**_

' _Okay, this is seriously getting on my nerves!_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he continued his walk through the town with a constant scowl on his face. His pissed facial expression did very little to deter the curious looks of the people glancing at him. ' _What the hell are they looking at? Maybe I cleared the last floor, SO WHAT!?_ '

Shaking his head the Reaper headed through the gates out of the safe zone in order to find something to hunt for experience points and to relieve some of his stress. He didn't go to the menu to bring his sword out because he didn't really see if there was a point to it, if he came across a monster he'd beat it down with his bare hands just fine.

Walking around casually, Ragna kept his eyes out for something to fight, but at the moment he didn't see anything in the immediate area. Continuing his leisurely stroll the Reaper saw plenty of players heading into the fields to search for the dungeons they heard about from their info brokers. Eventually in his destinationless journey he heard the sounds of battle a tiny and familiar battle cry that rang out.

' _Silica?_ ' Ragna thought to himself before shrugging and heading towards the sounds of the combat. He found the young fighter with her beloved dragon Pina, the two of them fighting off a monster that was about Ragna's size, had pale leathery skin covered in leather armor and holding a longsword, and was identified as a Hobgoblin.

Ragna watched as Silica as deftly redirected one of the Hobgoblin's heavy punches with her blade before slashing it against the torso. The Hobgoblin tried to backhand her with sword swipe, but Pina got in the things face and distracted so the attack went high. Defletly dodging the distracted attack, Celica's blade glowed a light green before she plunged it into the Hobgoblin's chest, causing it to shatter.

"We did it!" she said excitedly to Pina, who cheerfully chirped as the results screen came up. As well as a message saying she'd increased in level.

"Looks like you've been doing pretty well," Ragna noted as he stepped forward to talk to her. Silica turned in surprise and stared at him for a moment causing the Reaper to smirk. "What's wrong? I got something on my face?"

"Ragnaaaaaaaaa!" Silica shouted out before rushing towards the Reaper. Ragna barely had to react as she tackled into with a hug, but he still managed to catch her and chuckled when he did.

"Hey kid, it's been awhile," he said to his friend still smiling. "Didn't expect to see you going solo on the front lines."

"Well I wanted to see if I could beat one of the stronger monsters by myself like you do!" Celica said to him happily before remembering something and looking up at him with a hurt expression. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you?" Ragna repeated before remembering what Agil and Argo had told him a few days earlier. "Oh right, the guild… sorry, I've been kind of busy."

"You made a guild?" she asked, confusing the Reaper even further before he felt Pina crawling on his head and laying his hair in her second attempt to make a temporary nest.

"Again Pina?" Ragna said looking glancing up at the dragon, but he decided he'd leave her be (no clue why she liked his hair so much) and pointed to where he assumed his guild symbol was. "But yeah, I formed a guild. So far I have Agil, Lisbeth, and Argo in it."

"Of course Argo's in it," Silica said to him. "You couldn't start a guild without having your fiancee in it."

"Yeah I gue-" Ragna's face went taught and emotionless that next moment right before… " _ **WHAT THE HELL!?**_ "

Pina let out a high pitched shriek as she was knocked off of Ragna's head and had to hastily flap her wings in order to not hit the ground. Silica herself took a step back of Ragna's sudden outburst.

"Fiancee!? As in the person I'm going to marry!? Where the hell did that come from!?" Ragna shouted.

"W-well I got the update that-" Silica began before noticing a Hobgoblin rushing towards her friend from behind him. "Ragna watch out! There's a-!"

Without turning, Ragna's right arm was quickly consumed with black fire before it shot out and struck through the Hobgoblin's head, causing little the glass shards to fly out of the wound for a brief moment before the monster shattered completely.

"Continue…" he said darkly as he quickly tapped on the results screen that came up without looking at what he'd gotten.

"I-I got a notification from when it says you proposed to her," she said to him nervously as she opened up her menu and showed him the message. Ragna took a look at the message that explained it as thus.

 _Ragna and Argo of the guild_ _Rebellion_ _have proposed their love for each other and are due to marry soon! Be sure to congratulate the two and offer your blessing to them. Another update will be issued when the two have decided on a ceremony date or if they proceed without one._

"And you got this automatically?" Ragna asked sternly as Pina now sat on Silica's head to avoid being shaken by another outburst, though the dragon was still slightly shaken when her owner nodded. "Effing great, just what I wanted to deal with…"

"So… you didn't propose to her?"

"NO, I didn't," Ragna said to her heatedly before realizing he was being too harsh. "Look, all that happened was I got this ring as a last hit bonus, she wanted it, and I accidently put it on her finger. That's all that happened."

"Wait really?" Silica asked. "You didn't think that putting a ring on Argo's finger would do something?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" Ragna shouted before shaking his head. "That's it, I'm going out into the field and try to work some of this aggression off."

"O-Okay," the Dragon Tamer said to him as he was about to leave. "But Ragna, can I join your guild? I haven't really become a part of one yet and… I mean I'd really like to be in yours."

The Reaper nodded before he brought up the menu, tapped a few buttons, and sent Silica the invitation. "Just to warn you in advance we're not exactly an official team or anything and we don't have a headquarters. Saying you're a part of this guild isn't anything to really brag about."

"Well it's saying that you're my friend," Silica said as she accepted with a smile as _Rebellion_ ' _s_ symbol appeared beside her name. "And that's something."

"Heh, if you say so," Ragna said with a smile. "Take care of yourself kiddo, and let me know if you ever need help with anything; I'm not good for much, but I can at least help people out of binds every now and again."

"Okay," Silica said with a smile as Pina let out a happy caw. "See you later Ragna!"

As the young Dragon Tamer ran off Ragna allowed himself a smirk before heading in the opposite direction. "The kid has spirit, gotta admire that," he said with a chuckle as he walked. "That reminds me, I should probably head back to the church soon and see how Sasha's doing… well maybe I'll wait for this whole proposal thing to blow over first; the last thing I need is for those kids to have something to tease me about."

 _ **Later -Bar On Floor Nine-**_

"Thanks for the info Argo," a mid-ranking player in light armor said to the info broker as he sent over his payment at the table the two sat at. "Now I know everything I need to take down that Dungeon boss."

"I doubt it's going to be as easy as you think, but you'll be better off now," Argo told him as she looked at the notification. "Why the extra fifty percent?"

"Hey you're going to need the funds to pay for your wedding, right?" the contact said, causing Argo to cringe. "I'd feel like I was robbing you if I didn't give you a little extra to help out."

"Th-that's not really necessary," Argo told him (though it was killing her all that much more because she had to give the money back). "Look the whole wedding message is a mistake, a glitch in the system."

"A glitch? Sounds like someone's embarrassed!" her contact said, causing Argo to blush beneath the hood. "Either way this info's gonna give me plenty of profit down the road so keep the tip, you've earned it." The contact then stood and left the table, going over to his team members and sat beside them leaving Argo sitting alone.

Despite earning nothing but great pay ever since the day had began, she'd hated dealing with congratulations and well intended gifts and regards since her first client. She'd hoped that this last guy hadn't known about the 'proposal' since this was her first time meeting him and she didn't have him on her contact list, but now even he knew and this came as even worse news for her.

' _I'm a fricken' info broker and I can't even keep one mistake from getting out,'_ Argo thought to herself with a sigh. ' _Funny, wonder if that's what he's thinking… Ragna you really do give us all a world of trouble…'_

"Drinking alone on your big day?" Argo's cringe increased at the sound of Asuna's voice. This day just had to keep getting worse. The second-in-command of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ walked in and attracted glances from everyone in the bar. Asuna's expression didn't seem pleased in the slightest as she walked over to Argo and sat herself at her table.

"So…" Argo began nervously, not at all liking the glare that she was receiving from Asuna. "How have you been?"

"Fine…" the vice-commander said passively with her arms crossed. "How's Ragna been?"

"Right now no clue," Argo said. "Seemed to be doing alright yesterday, but that was before…"

"He proposed?" Asuna finished with ire, causing the infobroker to nod slowly. "What was it like?"

"It was… It was funny actually," Argo admitted, causing Asuna's face to go from hostile to bewildered. "If I wasn't so embarrassed about what had just happened I would have laughed at the face he made when he screamed."

"Ragna screamed?" Asuna asked bewildered as Argo appeared to chuckling. Several of the restaurant's patrons and staff leaned in to listen to what the infobroker had to say to the Second-In-Command of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ _._

"Well it was something between a scream and a yell, but yeah he did. Pretty loudly too, I figured people might've been able to hear him from two floors down."

"So then… he _didn't_ propose to you?" Asuna questioned.

"Are you kidding me? Ragna?" Argo said while laughing. "I just wanted to get an accessory from him, he was the klutz that had to put in on my finger and start this whole mess."

"So you two aren't…" Asuna began before letting out a sigh. "What an idiot…"

"Tell me about it," the hooded young lady- said with a smirk before realizing something that turned her smirk to a teasing smile. "So… what's with that look of relief on your face?"

"L-Look of relief?" Asuna repeated, her face starting to heat up into a deep blush. "W-What are you talking about!? I just wanted to get to the bottom of why Ragna was trying to propose to you! I-I'm not relieved about anything!"

"Suuuuuuure you're not." Argo wasn't exactly buying it, but she knew that Asuna wasn't going to give her any ground here, especially when they were in a public area. However unsatisfying that it felt, she decided to change the subject. "So how have things been with the guild?"

"It's been alright, I guess." Now that the situation about the proposal was gelt with and Argo had changed the subject to that of her guild, the Second-In-Command felt much more at ease. "We've had a lot of new members coming in lately and I'm pretty sure we have Ragna to thank for that."

"I thought Ragna didn't work for your guild," Argo said as she shook her head. "I mean it's what he's said to me whenever I asked if he was getting all buddy-buddy with your boss."

"Well he's not working for my guild in the slightest, but he's worked with us before when we've offered him a job…" Asuna told him. "And whenever we do Ragna charges us a fortune to dress up in one of our uniforms."

"You mean that white and red cloak with the headband he sometimes wears," Argo said. "I took a look at that thing after bugging Ragna about it for an hour and it's not like anything I've ever seen. Certainly wasn't in the beta."

"That's not all, we can't find the armor anywhere else either," Asuna told her as a waitress came over. "Sorry, we'll order our food from the menus." The woman nodded before quickly heading off to serve another table of patrons. "I've looked all over my guild's inventory and I haven't seen that armor or headband listed once before Ragna wore it."

"Weird," Argo said "You gotta admit though, it's a good outfit. I mean it certainly gives you the impression of a hero."

"Yeah, if only we could convince Ragna about that," Asuna said as she ordered a small bowl of stew from her menu which appeared in front of her. Argo was about to order lunch for herself before remembering she was supposed to meet with another contact pretty soon. "I'm sure that allying with Ragna is part of what's getting us so many members, but as sad as it is to say, I'm pretty sure that the recent player killings had something to do with it as well."

"Can't say I'm too surprised. People start getting scared because _Dark Shields_ members were being slaughtered so they don't feel safe with them, the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ is getting called out for hiring player killers so they don't trust them, that leaves your group to turn to."

"Yeah, with the game in a crazy state like this one the only one people would feel safe with would be Heathcliff," Asuna said as she blew on a spoonful of her stew before enjoying it. "With as strong as he's proved himself it's not too hard to see why."

"Strong yeah, but we barely know anything about him," Argo said as she stirred her stew. "No one here seems to know him from IRL, he's been able to cut down floor bosses with little difficulty, and we've never seen his health go down past the halfway point. He almost sounds like a second…"

"A second Ragna, I know. I guess they're both mysterious, but we need to trust them. Almost no players have died under Heathcliff's command while none have died under Ragna's because of his solo fighting. It's even more incredible when you consider that both of them are frontline fighters and are usually the first ones going in dungeons," Asuna reminded. "We don't know much about them, but we need people like them in _Sword Art Online._ "

"If we're going to survive this game at least," Argo said before standing from the table. "I got to get going, I need to meet up with a client who's looking for info on a dungeon boss. Oh and Asuna?"

"What is it?" the second in command asked as she took a spoonful of stew, before realizing that the infobroker had somehow snuck up beside her to whisper in her ear so no one else would hear.

"If you're going to be upset about someone getting close to Ragna you might as well let him know. There are a lot of girls here that would consider him quite the catch, so you might want to get to him before they do."

"A-Argo!" Asuna exclaimed as her face lit up in a deep shade of red. The hooded young lady only giggled as she got up from the table and left the restaurant leaving Asuna sitting at the table with a bright blush as she stared down at her stew.

"Is there something wrong with the meal Miss?" a passing-by waitress asked.

"N-Nothing wrong," Asuna stuttered out. "It's just a bit spicey."

"Spicey? But it looks like you ordered the one star meal," the waitress said, causing the second-in-commands face to blush even brighter.

"Oh right my mistake," Asuna said, hoping that the waitress would leave her alone which she did before considering what was just said. ' _Argo thinks that I like Ragna… Well yeah I like him, I mean he's a great friend, he's always looking out for us and he's strong and… NO! I'm the second in command! I'm not going think about him like a schoolgirl crush!'_ She let out a long forlorn sigh. "That man's a real pain to deal with sometimes."

 _ **-Floor Eleven Fields- Willania Woods-**_

"ACHOO!" Ragna sneezed loudly. It came as a surprise for the Reaper as he hadn't felt the sneeze coming on and he certainly hadn't gotten a cold chill during the few hours he'd been here. Shrugging, he continued walking across the plains. He still had yet to bring his sword _Blood-Scythe_ out, but for now he decided he would focus on just using his fists to fight his way though the opponents he came across and maybe improve his _BlazBlue_ related abilities along the way.

His walk around the fields hadn't been a bad one, he'd yet to be comforted by any players hoping to 'congratulate' him on the proposal and the players he did see didn't happen to notice him (not that he was hiding, that's just silly). This meant he managed to get some peace and quiet to himself whenever he wasn't facing down monsters. Compared to the craziness that he normally had to deal with and the times he did his more intense level grinding sessions, this felt like a day off to him. It'd been a while since he'd dedicated his entire day to nothing but pure level grinding, but since he'd been clearing floors recently now might've been a good time to do so.

( _ **Cue**_ **Ragna's Theme** _Rebellion_ )

The Reaper continued walking along the path for a few moments before hearing the collection of inhuman growls coming from around him. Not appearing to be concerned with threat, Ragna gave a glance around to the ten Hobgoblins surrounding him before smirking cockily.

"Sure as hell took you long enough," he said cockily before one of the Hobgoblins rushed forward and delivered tried to stab Ragna though with his sword. The Reaper dodged the attack before sweeping his attackers legs sending. Before them monster could even touch the ground, Ragna punched down its skyward facing chest and made it hit the ground so hard it actually bounced from the ground. Ragna then charged his _BlazBlue_ and unleashed a final powerful punch which was enough to cause the monster shatter.

" _ **Gauntlet Hades!**_ " Ragna shouted as he flipped into the air with his foot covered in darkness and striking a nearby Hobgoblin and damaging it before he unleashed a follow up spin kick and knocked the monster into the air. He then grabbed the monster by the leg and slammed it to the ground as hard as he could and caused it to shatter. ' _Never thought I'd end up using one of Bullet's moves, but if it works what the hell?'_

Ragna then leaped into the air to avoid another Hobgoblin's slash before kicking the monster in the back of the head and sent it a short distance forward where it impaled another Hobgoblin. As soon as Ragna landed he rapidly rushed toward the back of the impaled Hobgoblin and kicked the blade into the air, which but the Hobgoblin along the way and caused it to shatter. As the sword fell in front of him Ragna backhanded it and sent the point flying forward into the disarmed Hobgoblin who was then impaled by his own sword.

" _ **Hell's Fang!**_ " the Reaper shouted as he rushed forward and stuck the pommel of the sword, further damaging the Hobgoblin before he followed up with a wave of darkness which struck the monster and finished it off. "Let's see how you like this!" Ragna shouted as he charged even more energy into his _BlazBlue_ before rushing forward with a fist of darkness in front of him and drilled two of his opponents before transforming his arm into a claw and crushed both of them.

"Rgh!" Ragna groaned as his arm gave off a brief pulse of pain. Glancing at his stats quickly, he noticed that his last move alone had filled up his corruption gauge by 30%, putting him at about the halfway point. ' _Damn it, that moves still takes up way too much of the gauge even after I decreased it a bit with my training…'_ Realizing that he still had four opponents left to finish of Ragna smirked to himself. ' _What the hell? Might as well get some practice in with my sword._ ' Ragna about to quickly open his menu before his arm gave another painful throb. He was about to try to get it under control, but then it gave a violent spark of darkness before a midnight black flame emerged from his palm and quickly grew in size start to take shape. In the matter of a mere second the flames had dissipated and he found himself holding _Blood-Scythe_.

"Huh, wasn't expecting that, but I'll take it!" Ragna shouted as he rushed forward and activated _Power Smash_. This blade gave off a small glow as Ragna swung his sword in a powerful arc and carved both of the monsters in half with a single swing and destroyed them.

The last two monsters got on either side of the Reaper and quickly rushed towards him. The Reaper easily blocked the strike of the one in front of him before shifting his body to avoid the sword strike from the one behind him. The Reaper then pushed the one in front back before parrying the second strike from the one behind him before turning and kicking the Hobgoblin back.

Seeing there wasn't any further fun to be had Ragna decided he'd screwed around enough this fight. As the Hobgoblin currently behind him came to strike him from behind, Ragna brought his blade up from behind him and blocked the longsword with ease. He then grabbed the monster arm and threw him into his friend knocking both of the them off balance. In their position of vulnerability, Ragna transformed his weapon into it's scythe form and tore through both of them with a single swing.

( _End Theme_ )

The Grim Reaper let his weapon revert to its sword form and clipped it back on his weapon's belt. The result screen came up with an additional message saying that he'd mastered an ability and just learned two others. The ability mastered was his _Unarmed Combat_ ability which allowed him to use his punches and kicks that didn't utilize his _BlazBlue's_ power more effectively. One of the abilities he unlocked was obviously the next level of that _Improved Unarmed Combat_ , which helped by increasing the damage output.

"So now it's easier for me to literally kick something's ass," Ragna said before scrolling to the next ability. "Let me see here, _Dark Equip_ … Looks like it lets me quickly summon whatever weapon I want to my hand, either that or switch my weapon with another one in storage… Useful. And it looks like I also received some _Pale Leather_ too… not a bad fight."

Closing the menu he headed on his way, simply going the direction he had been for some time. Ragna continued following the path for another good fifteen minutes until eventually reaching the sheer drop into cold cloudy abyss of the _Aincrad's_ end.

"End of the road it looks like," he muttered to himself before taking a seat on the edge of the world and staring off into the fake skyline. ' _Damn… I thought if I kept traveling for a while I would've found a dungeon, another town, or something, but it looks like I don't have enough map info for that… Maybe I can ask Argo if she'd know anything about this floor's dungeon locations from the beta._ '

Thinking of the infobroker for as short as he did caused thoughts of the situation the two were currently in thanks to his foolhardy move yesterday. ' _Or I can wait on that for a while… Now that I think about it, I remember Lisbeth saying something about needing Pale Leather to upgrade my coat to the next level and I'm pretty sure I've got enough pieces. But if this changes my coat's shape like it changed my sword… Well if I hate the change that much maybe I can get Sanae to help me out, I sure he could do that much.'_

 _ **-Floor Four: Tent Town-**_

Ragna cricked his neck as the light from the teleport stand faded around him. He started walking towards where he remembered Lisbeth had kept her smithing shop. As the Reaper walked though the town he glanced around to find that it was mostly deserted. He saw a some light coming in from some of the shops as people kept their businesses open, but he barely saw and NPC anywhere in the fold.

' _With the crap I'm having to go through this works for me,'_ he thought to himself as grimly as his namesake. ' _But with if Lisbeth's moved on too? Then where the hell will I need to go to get my coat worked on?'_

Once in a blue moon, luck was on the Reaper's side and it seemed like this was one such he saw Lizbeth's familiar dark grey tent with the ' _Lisbeth's Smith Shop'_ sign still up. Smirking to himself he entered the tent and found his Blacksmith sitting at the counter.

"Well look who managed to show up," she said with a grin. "If it isn't the guild leader and proposer himself of the week."

' _Good God, I forgot about the message,'_ Ragna thought to himself worriedly. "Look, I can explain."

"No need, Argo already told me everything last night," Lisbeth assured him and Ragna let out a sigh of relief. "That was a real idiotic thing you did though."

"So I've been told," Ragna said shaking his head. "But you already saw Argo last night? What's with that?"

"Simple; she's starting to stay with me," Liz told him. "She wants to save money so she can eventually afford a house and not have to pay to stay at an inn every time."

"I guess that makes sense," Ragna said as he took his sword off his weapon's belt and removed his coat. "I found the _Pale Leather_ that you said I needed to upgrade my coat, think you can get to work on it?"

"Sure thing," Lisbeth told him as she took the coat from him. Ragna opened his menu and brought out the materials needed to perform and upgrade to the coat. Within a few moments a bright light emitted from Ragna's crimson coat. Once the light faded Lisbeth had a big smile on her face. "Looks like your coat's appearance changed."

At first glance you couldn't really see anything different about it, the coat seemed to have the same belts, straps, and metal plates that it usually did, but upon further inspection you could tell that there was more length added to it. Decided he'd at least give it a chance, Ragna put on the coat and assessed the new length. Now the coat reached down all the way to his shins.

"Huh, well alright," Ragna said with a shrug. "I guess it's not a terrible look. What do I owe you?"

"Well since I'm part of the guild now and technically you are the leader I guess I won't have to charge you from now on," Liz told him with a smile.

"That seems… a bit TOO kind for you," Ragna admitted as he clipped his sword to his weapons belt. "Is there something else I should know about?"

"Well Klein sent out a message earlier today, said something about putting the word out," she told him with a shrug. "Not really sure what he meant by that, but it sounds like its going to cause a bit of a headache for you today, might as well give you SOMETHING worthwhile."

"Putting the word out?" Ragna repeated before cringing. "Oh god no… Where the hell is he?"

"Floor Nine I think," Lisbeth said before noticing that Ragna had grabbed out his teleport crystal. "Hey, you shouldn't be so-!"

"Teleport: Brovalia!" Ragna shouted and vanished in a flash of light.

"...hasty," the Blacksmith finished with a sigh. "Damn, I wanted to talk to him for a bit longer."

 _ **-Floor Nine: Brovalia-**_

The moment he appeared on the teleportation stand, Ragna wasted no time looking around for Klein and the _**Fuurin Kazan**_ guild. At the moment he saw no sign of them before he headed into the city streets. Floor Nine wasn't as crowded as it used to be, but it still appeared to be the most crowded of the three Ragna had been to today. As he quickly walked down the street he noticed several people were glancing at him and one person called out 'go get her!' but he decided to ignore that.

"Come on where is that idiot?" he asked aloud as he found Klein's location on his mini map and ran through the street as best he could because of how crowded it was. As he ran down the alleyway he saw Diabel standing outside and waving towards him.

"Oh Ragna, I was about to come find you. Got something that needs-"

"Not right now Diabel," the Reaper said while shoving his way past the Commanding officer of _Dark Shield_. "I've got to give Klein a talking to."

"Ragna wait, I know that you don't want to celebrate your engagement, but he means we-"

"I don't want to celebrate because there's nothing to celebrate!" Ragna shouted at him. "I didn't propose to Argo! The message you got was a mistake!"

"A mistake!? Then why did we get the message in the first place?" Diabel questioned. "Come on it's not like you put the ring on her finger without even… oh."

"Yeah. so I effed up. That's why I want whatever Klein's got planned to stop right now," Ragna said before he came across one of the more popular taverns on the floor and glanced once more to his minimap. "So he's in there…"

"Ragna, Klein's worked hard on this, I mean really hard. He managed to book an entire bar, set up with plenty of food-"

"Put the word out," Ragna finished venomously, causing Diabel to cringe.

"Look, what I'm saying is don't be too quick to jump to conclusions and kill the show early. _Please_ give them a chance."

"...Fine," Ragna finally said before opening the tavern door only to see the liquor flying at him in mid air. Using his reflexes, he managed to dodge to the side at high speeds and avoid getting a drop on himself or his precious new coat.

"Aw you dodged it, no fair!" Klein shouted out with laughter as the rest of the his guild, Agil, and a few of his contacts smirked.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?" Ragna shouted. He heard sputtering and briefly glanced at Diabel who had not been so lucky and was hit in the face by the alcohol.

"When I was planning this I told everyone that I'd have you covered in alcohol by the end of the night! This was just me helping you get started!" the bandana wearing samurai said with the biggest of smiles on his face as the rest of the men let out a loud cheer.

Diabel groaned and wiped his face before glancing at Ragna. The Reaper was glaring at him with a face that clearly said 'this was your idea.'

"Well enough standing on ceremony!" Agil called out. "Let's get this lug's bachelor party started! By the end of tonight we're going to see a drunk Ragna!"

"Uh… guys?" Ragna tried to put in a the voice of reason. "It's still a game, I don't think you're able to get drunk…" ' _Not sure if I'm applied to that though…'_

"Well by the end of the night we'll know for sure!" Klein shouted as he thrust the first tankard into Ragna's hands. "Come on Ragna! It might be your last night to party."

Giving a sigh, the Reaper brought the drink and began chugging the drink as he did music began playing from some of the performers that Klein had hired. Essentially playing music had it's own dedicated skill and these people could hire themselves out to events like this. As soon as Ragna finished downing the drink he felt Agil's hand slap him on the back.

"So Argo huh?" he said with a smile and Ragna blushed as he knew where this was going. "Funny, I was thinking I'd see you wind up with Asuna or that Blacksmith of yours but you decided on your infobroker. Gotta say though, she seems kinda young for you… or you like 'em that way?"

Ragna's face currently matched the color of the coat he was wearing thanks to Agil's accusation. He also noticed that the guys had gone quite to hear his response even if the music was playing. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Ragna finally said before grabbing another tankard and downing it.

"Hah, well I guess that's your business anyways!" Klein laughed before getting in getting close Ragna's face and putting an arm around."So buddy, pal, now that you're getting tied down… think you can help your best bud out and introduce me to a couple of girls that you know?"

' _Klein wants my help picking up chicks, me?'_ Ragna thought internally before giving his friend a painful and forced smile. "I… I don't think I'm the best guy to come to for dating advice."

"Well you managed to get Argo right?" Klein offered with a smirk, figuring Ragna was just trying to get out of this.

"That was-!" Ragna was about to let everyone know what really happened and call off all of this craziness. But seeing Klein's innocent gaze and the fun that the people around him were having as well as Diabel's pleading look, he figured now was a terrible time to be a killjoy. "That was different."

"Really how'd you get her then?" the samurai asked.

"Well it wasn't my sense of humor, that's for damn sure," Ragna admitted with a laugh at himself and many of the people around him joined in. The night was just getting started and there was much fun to be had.

 _ **-Later-**_

The evening of partying had been a successful one, if by successful you meant rowdy and filled with a large quantity of food, bountiful alcohol, and plenty of bad dancing. Ragna had plenty more than a couple of drinks that night, but he'd yet to feel the effects, most likely due to his own healing factor and his vitality, which was good because he didn't want anyone to have the satisfaction of seeing him drunk.

Already most of the patrons had left leaving Ragna with only Klein and Diabel in the bar. Klein had a pleased look in his face as he saw what had become of his most recent party.

"Man, I've been waiting to throw a bash like that for so long," he said to the others. "I guess we just never really had anything to celebrate."

"Kind of depressing if you put it like that," Ragna told him before sighing and realizing he needed to let Klein know the truth. "Look, there's something I need to tell you…"

"I know, I know," Klein said, making Ragna wonder if he actually somehow knew about the mistake. "I went pretty overboard with the party, I mean all that booze and those musician… not to mention those 'other guests' that showed up." No one looked at each other after that last comment. "You don't really strike me as the type of guy who likes to party anyways, but I wanted to do something special for you man, I mean we're buddies right?"

"Well that not what I was getting at I…" Ragna began again before sighing to himself. "I just wanted to say... You're a good friend…"

"Aw c'mon, don't go all emotional on me now…" Klein said with a smile, though both could see that he was clearly about to start bawling, something he was known to do. "Anyways I gotta go catch some Z's for tomorrow, give Argo my best."

"Yeah, I'm gonna head out too, I'll see you around man," Ragna said as he and Diabel left the bar.

"You're not going to tell him?" Diabel questioned as the two walked along the streets.

"He'll find out eventually, you can tell him yourself if you want," Ragna said. "I dunno, he just seemed so proud of himself, I just didn't have the heart to tell him that all of his work was for nothing."

"Well you enjoyed yourself anyways right? I wouldn't say it was for nothing," Diabel told him before smirking. "Plus you got some _tips_ from-"

"Let's not talk about that… _ever,_ " Ragna suggested darkly. "I don't need that to come back to bite me." Cricking his neck he stood on the teleportation platform. "I'll see you around Diabel, good luck with the guild."

"Thanks, best of luck to you as well," Diabel said as the two went on their way and let the overly chaotic day finally come to an end.

 _ **Author's Note: Don't own anything, let's move on.**_

 _ **I got quite a few messages about people eagerly awaiting this chapter. Just to remind everyone with how updates are going to occur in the future I posted a list on my profile to depict the update order.**_

 _ **But enough about that for now, let's get to the reason for why you stayed past the words author's note… MY DANCING! ...No? You guys want the Omake? ...Alright.**_

 _ **Another Reality**_

(Cue SAO's _Confront Battle_ )

A monstrous snarl was heard throughout Illfang's chamber as the Kobold Lord brought his Odachi down in a devastating arc on the knight in front of him. Diabel could barely see the attack coming before he was completely cut through with the sword and was sent flying back before he landed on the ground with a large thud as his health depleted further and further.

"Diabel!" Kibaou shouted as he rushed towards the monster with a few of the other players only to get knocked back by Illfang's massive blade. The Kobold lord gave a feral shout as players fell helpless all around him.

A short distance away from the boss, a rapier wielding sword user was doing her best to fend off the attacking Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Asuna activated a sword skill and stabbed at one Kobold and sent it sprawling back and quickly shifted her weapon to guard against the mace of another before reposting. She was doing rather alright in her fight to keep them contained, but the battle against the boss was a different matter.

Agil let out a roar as he swung his axe in a massive arc and defended the downed players from Illfang's sword strike which would have killed them. Despite the massive power behind the boss, Agil managed to hold his ground with his axe for the moment.

"Get out of here!" he shouted at the downed players behind him. "I can't hold him off forever!"

"B-but we can't-" Kibaou began before hearing a shattering sound behind him. Turning his head, he saw glass particles where Diabel been laying, the appearance of a killed player. Hearing a small scream of pain he saw the girl who'd been holding off the boss's minions by herself slowly retreating back from the five units as her health barely remained in the red. Grunting to himself, Kibaou slowly got up and started heading for the exit, not bothering to stay behind and help the others.

" _Aw, tucking tail and running away already? I was hoping for a bit more than just that.'_

Kibaou's eyes widened at the sound of the voice before a blur emerged from the chamber's entrance and rushed forward towards the armored minions. He barely heard the high pitched whine of a knife cutting through the air as the blur stopped, revealing a man in a tuxedo with a long yellow hooded cloak as he appeared on the other side of the kobolds. The man held a switchblade in each hand and all of the kobolds appeared with several slash marks on them before they all shattered just like Diabel had done.

"What the hell was that? I couldn't even see his weapons..." Kibaou said to himself before he heard a gravelly grunt and saw the axe user from earlier being flown back in a wall as his HP bar was nearly emptied. Illfang let out another massive roar as the enigma in yellow slowly approached.

"You're a big one, but that giant gut of yours just gives me that much more of a target to cut!" he shouted sadistically before twirling his knives in both hands.

Though it was a program, the shine in Illfang's eyes showed that it didn't seem to take kindly to being called 'fat.' Its Odachi glowed for a moment before carving through the air at the newcomer. The blade cut through without resistance, but the Kobold lord's eyes bulged as it realized his target was no longer standing there.

"Looking for someone?" a snarky voice question, Kibaou and Illfang both glanced to the boss's sword where yellow coat was calmly standing on the edge. "Not very smart are ya? Aw hell, don't tell me I'm going to be bored with this." The Kobold King swiped his sword again to get the enigma off, but he simply leapt of the sword and delivered a green aura emitting kick to the monster's face and sent it flying back.

' _That technique… It looked like an unarmed skill, but that glow wasn't like anything I've seen. And he has a knife in each hand? What the hell is he!?'_

"Yep, boring" the man in the yellow cloak said as he landed with all the grace of a cat. "Well what the hell, I got time to kill."

"Hey you!" Kibaou called out. "What-!?"

"If you've got something to say to me do it when I'm not working, I've got something more important to deal with than whatever you want."

' _That asshole and his attitude I oughta-!'_

"Oh, and if you want something to call me by..." the figure began as Illfang slowly began to rise from where it was knocked over. The enigma turned himself around to face Kibaou and the sword wielder froze cold as he saw the yellow eyes and smile of a snake under his hood. "Call me _Terumi… Yuuki Terumi._ "

Illfang roared as it rushed toward the mystery man before leaping around the immediate area to throw Terumi off, but the newcomer didn't seem to move from his spot. Finally ending his string of jumps, the Kobold Lord brought his Odachi down for the kill, but with unobservable speed Terumi turned and managed to deflect the massive blade with a single knife and sent the boss off balance before cutting him across the chest with his other dagger.

" _ **Divine Twin Blades!**_ " Terumi shouted as he unslashed two skyward kicks, both of them encompassed in that green glow from earlier. The force was actually enough to send Illfang flying into the air before jumping into the air and drop kicking Illfang to floor with a tremendous thud. The Kobold Lord managed to quickly raise to his feet performing another massive slash at Terumi.

"Oh please, _**GLEAMING FANG!**_ " Terumi shouted as green energy formed a serpent's head around him and he rushed forward at impossible speeds, seeming to pass through Illfang and appearing on the other side. A giant gash mark appeared on the Kobold Lord's front as the monster's entire body shimmered for a moment before exploding in light particles.

(End Theme)

"Yep, that's about the size of it," Terumi said as he put his hands in his pockets and let himself relax as the ' _Congratulations'_ sign came up. Still smirking a sharp grin he turned to the other players. "Come on! We still have Ninety-nine of these left don't we? Don't tell me you're all tuckered out after the first level!"

Several of the players groaned to themselves as they slowly stood in the chambers as Terumi stood laxly where he'd beaten the boss with ease, but one player wasn't going to take what Terumi was saying.

"Hold on a damned minute you!" Kibaou shouted, causing many people to glance and turn towards him. "What the hell's your deal anyways!? You came in here and saved us, but I heard what you said! You were waiting outside the whole time! We were in here dying and you were just watching us!"

"Waiting outside? You might want to think that over before you start pointing fingers," Yuuki Terumi said as he threw his head back to remove his hood, revealing the face that lie beneath as well as his spiky green hair. "I wasn't waiting for anything; I just happened to find where the boss dungeon was the moment you guys were attacked."

"Yeah right! I bet you were waiting for us to get slaughtered just so you could be the one to kill the boss! It's because of you Diabel is dead!"

"Oh please I didn't have to wait for anything; you all saw me when I was kicking that freaks ass to the curb," Terumi said. "Though when I showed up I certainly remember seeing you running off, and not even bothering to help anyone else in the retreat. Can't say I saw you offer the knight a potion before I came in. Does this sound about right?"

"Wh-what?"Kibaou stuttered as he fearfully glance around and noticed a few of the other players glaring at him. "Why you-!"

"Hey, hey, time out," Agil said as he got in between the two. "Terumi right?"

"That's me," Terumi told him with casual shrug.

"Look, I'm not sure why you what you did, but you managed to save our skins, so thanks enough for that. But maybe next time you can head to the boss chamber when it's time for a boss raid?"

"Alright, I'll be sure to play by the rules next time," Terumi said with a smirk. The players slowly started to file out of the boss chambers as they made their way to the next floor a few of them giving the occasional nod to him as they left. Agil also headed out on his way, but as he was heading up the stairs he saw that Kibaou was staying behind and continuing to glare at Terumi. He was thinking about saying behind, but only shook his head and continued on his way.

"Still don't believe me?" Terumi said as he took a hand out of his pocket and reapplied his hood.

"Hardly, you're just a monster and the rest of this game's just too stupid to see it!" Kibaou shouted at him as he got up in his face. "And I'm going to make you regret the day you met me!"

"Oh really? I'm hearing a lot of petty threats you shit, not a nice way to thank the guy who just saved your miserable life!" Terumi said with a shiteating grin as he towered over Kibaou.

"Well you're still a murderer!" Kibaou shouted as he glanced to the marker above Terumi's head. "I don't care if you're a green player, you've let Diabel die and everyone in this game is at risk with you just being alive! You'd let a thousand people die before you and still try to show off as a hero you pathetic freak!"

"...Ouch," Terumi said appearing to be hurt. "Jeeze, you really know how to cut a guy deep and twist the dagger. But out of everything you just said about me, every horrible little detail and claim you just said, you want to know what the worst part is?"

"Yeah, what the hell is it?" the instigator shot back with a glare.

 _ **SNAP!**_

As Terumi snapped his fingers and generated a dark green spark, Kibaou took a horrified step back as the Serpent's smile only seemed the grow. The green hugh around his player marker slowly began to fade more and more, finally revealing the red mark; the mark of a _player killer._

"THE WORST PART IS YOU WERE RIGHT ASSHOLE!" Terumi shouted before chuckling sadistically. Kibaou took a further step back before taking his longsword out and cutting Terumi; a long and lethal strike across the face. Terumi paused for a moment and his smile turned to a scowl as he glared at the maggot in front of him.

"JUST DO US ALL A FAVOR AND DIE!" Kibaou said as he impaled the blade through Terumi's head while the madman made no effort to dodge. "Maybe I'll play as a yellow player for a while, but at least you'll-"

" _ **At least I'll what?**_ " came Terumi's voice, much crueler and demonic. Kibaou's face with taut with fear as his eyes bulged, sweat began forming on his face, as he started have trouble breathing and the entire room around the two seemed to darken. " _ **Oh, there's the face,**_ " Terumi said as he forcefully removed the sword from his head which Kibaou barely managed to hold onto in his despair. " _ **Show me more! Show me that look of hopelessness! Show me that you've given up! It's been too long since I've raped someone's mind like this!"**_

Kibaou let out a helpless cry as he swung again with his sword, this time cutting Terumi across the chest while the monster made no attempt to dodge. He then swung his sword again while screaming out, and again, and again, cutting Terumi countless times while he just stood there and took it. As Kibaou gave one finally rush to stab Terumi through, he stumbled forward as he only cut through the air. Worriedly, he saw that Yuuki Terumi had vanished.

" _ **You know something, this still isn't as fun as doing it to HIM…**_ " Terumi's voice echoed throughout the entire chamber. More sweat formed on Kibaou's brow as he looked around the pillars, hoping to find Terumi somewhere. " _ **He always had this little never give up attitude and I can't believe I'm saying it, but that shitty vampire was right; he was pretty interesting.**_ "

"WH-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Kibaou shouted with panic as he looked around. "WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

" _ **Someone who can actually give me a good show!**_ " Terumi shouted from all around. " _ **Maybe you can make me laugh for the first few seconds, but I think it time for a little curtain call. Do me a favor, WHEN YOU SEE IZANAMI IN HELL LET HER KNOW SHE'S A REAL BITCH!"**_

Often the most important realization comes too late, such was the case here. As Kibaou eye's slowly went to the ceiling, he saw the yellow cloaked killer standing upside down and looking down at him with a cruel smile. The player couldn't even gasp before Terumi jumped down and soared down towards at high speeds. The last thing Kibaou saw was Terumi's glowing yellow eyes and evil smile before he landed directly behind him. Kibaou felt himself get bound by the glowing spiked green chain around him.

" _ **VENOM BITE!**_ " Terumi yelled as he roughly pulled the chains forward and made all of them cut Kibaou through. The victim let out a final scream as he was cut to pieces before shattering into glass shards. " _ **Well it's not home…**_ " Terumi began before he snapped his finger and turned his marker back to green is his entire body started to give off green flames. " _ **BUT IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME! Now then, let's see what I can do once I get my hands on the Cardinal System! HeheheheheHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ "

To be continued….

 _ **Well… shit… Terumi's in his own world and he's causing havock. I don't really need to say it, but Shirosaki my friend? This one was for you. Time to answer the review responses.**_

 _Primus1661: You're quite welcome, I hope this one also has a good bit of humor for you._

 _Shirosaki Kizuro: Ask and ye shall receive, hopefully this fills your obsession for awhile._

 _ZERONEX: *Grins* We shall soon see friend, we shall soon see._

 _Shadowedge27: I suppose there could be a resemblance._

 _Meihin Lightus: Not sure about that, but maybe I'll give Nu some more screen time later._

 _Guest: Not much hate here, but more than enough tension._

 _Laxard: True, but Sanae only plays by his own rules._

 _Knight Spark: Only for the Omake, not for the cannon._

 _BloodedgetheReaer2113: Laughing coffin? Might take them awhile to show up, but we'll see._

 _Marconator360: Hopefully you're satisfied with this answer._

 _Adv: Thank you, I try._

 _HudYang: It was automatic once the ring was on._

 _TheGrayKing27: Hmm… Terumi's isn't the original one, but if he did get the S.O.L. code, things might've turned out very different._

 _The lone Soul: As do I._

 _Wanderer: Maybe not beat up, but enough craziness to last a while._

 _Guest (2) & & XXX Chaos Breaker XXX: Here you are, the long awaited update._

 _ARSLOTHES: Thanks, I'll try to keep it that way._

 _T-B-R: Here you have it then._

 _Moby Trick: Maybe, but I'll have to wait for him to get a few more levels._

 _Zaralann: Cool._

 _Creus: Thank you, always appreciate another to add to the list._

 _Sir MIDNIGHT The Fallen One: Thanks a bunch for reviewing._

 _BANKAIZEN: Thanks._

 _ArmantusCumPinnae: Very real._

 _Salomjesus3: You're very welcome._

 _ **Thanks for reading, see you next chapter! Ciao!**_


	17. Teacher

_**Blade XVI: Teacher**_

"Whelp… no sleep for me tonight," the Grim Reaper muttered to himself from where he laid in his room on the eleventh floor. "At least I don't have to worry about team ups tomorrow or any shit like that."

It was a few days after Klein had hosted him his very own bachelor party and the chaos that had followed afterwards. He'd gotten a message from Diabel saying that the red headed samurai had found out that he wasn't actually engaged to his info broker and from what Ragna saw in the message, Klein was taking this rather well since he managed to get host the good and crazy party like he wanted.

Groaning to himself he jumped out of his bed and exited his room wearing his clothes, but without a sword drawn. Heading downstairs he saw that there wasn't anyone inside the inn's lower restaruant. No NPC's, no late night players, he was all alone. Figuring he'd might as well get some air, he left for the streets of the city which turned out to be just as empty as the inn.

' _I could head out to the fields now, but…_ ' Ragna glanced downwards as his stomach let out a dull groan. ' _I'm kind of hungry and I dunno why, but something sweet sounds really nice right now._ ' Swiping his finger downwards, he opened his menu and went to his inventory to check for food. All he had in food was some loaves of bread that he'd purchased a couple of days ago and some water he kept on him just to have. ' _Crap, I've got nothing on me… Well maybe I can check in with Sanae, there's always that shop of his on floor Nine I can go to. Not sure if it's even going to be open though.'_

Figuring there wasn't much to lose other than a bit of time, Ragna grabbed his teleport crystal out from his coat, which still had the increased length it had gotten from when he'd gotten it upgraded by Argo. Using the crystal, he disappeared in a flash of light and was teleported to the ninth floor. Once the light around him dissolved, he found himself on the intended teleportation stand. Putting the blue container away, he walked down the stand's stairway and casually strolled the streets.

"Weird…" he said around five minutes later. "I was sure that his shop was around here somewhere; I had no trouble finding it last time." Opening his map, he looked around the town map. "Let's see here… even if the place never showed up on the map I still left the marker on my map so I should be able to go to it no problem. It even says that it's right… behind me." The place behind the Reaper was between two buildings and it was covered in overgrown grass and a few dead trees, a very out of the way location.

' _So he takes the shop with him when he leaves,_ _well that plan's ruined,'_ Ragna thought to himself with a groan as he made his way over to any empty park bench and took a seat. He was still unable to fall asleep, craving something sweet, and didn't have much of any idea of what to do so he instead opened his menu and looked through his messages which were ranked by how long they'd been unopened in his message container.

The first hundred or so messages were from players that he didn't know, telling him to take care of Argo and offering their congratulations on the proposal. He was annoyed by them and deleted them without a second thought. Once he'd gotten through those however, the messages stopped being as friendly and started accusing him of starting some sort of scam. He figured this was when the game found out that he hadn't intended to propose and it went all downhill from there. One message of those in particular he decided to keep, only because he was slightly impressed on how many swear words the person saw fit to use in a single sentence. Then he came to his newest message.

"Oh great," he said to himself as he realized who it was from. Letting an exasperated breath out through his nostrils, he opened it with a single tap of his index fingers.

 _From: Argo  
Date: February 25, 2023  
Subject: to my idiot fiance_

"Idiot fiance, eh?" Ragna thought aloud as his eyebrows twitched a little at the phrasing of the words.

 _hey there dummy,_ the message read. _don't worry, not upset at you or anything. just figured after all the crap you put me through I now have a reason to call ya an idiot in the title, so that's what I did. just be thankful I managed to get a huge payoff in col 'cause of it, otherwise you'd be hearing from me personally._

"At least you got a payoff of col," Ragna muttered to himself. "All I got was a crazy bachelor party and a crap ton of messages, half of which were hate mail."

 _anyways, as yer infobroker (and friend) I figured I'd let you know about this dirt I recently dug up. back on floor nine there's this dungeon that was discovered at around the same time that floor 11 opened up. the players that found it never finished it, but they did tell me that it's a special area that you can only get into after midnight. I've left the location in this message, so feel free to grab a teammate and hit that sucker. just don't message me about it, I tend to get cranky when I'm woken up in the middle of the night. :-)_

 _yer friend and ever resourceful info broker,  
Argo_

 _P.S. Asuna looked like she was going to grill me pretty hard when she found out you'd proposed. I wonder why? XD_

"Why's there a face made out in the end of the message? And what the hell does this X and D thing mean at the end?" Ragna questioned aloud before looking at the location he'd received (and deciding he wouldn't delve into Argo's P.S.). "This dungeon is pretty far from where I am now, but I've got energy to burn and time to kill so why the hell not?"

Closing his menu, Ragna stood up and cricked his neck and let of a breath of relief at the pops that followed. His walk to the town's entrance was a short one with no one to disrupt his stroll; just him, the darkened town, and a slight breeze to keep him cool. Once he'd reached the gate, he focused his powers and activated his _Dark Equip_ skill which called forth black flames from his hands which condensed until they formed _BloodScythe_ and dispersed. Not needing to actually wield his sword yet, Ragna placed the blade on his belt and proceeded forward, leaving the safety of the town for the dangers of the dark outside.

 _ **Later**_

The Grim Reaper let out a yawn as he traveled through the forest. The moon above was full and close, giving him more than enough light to find his way, had he needed it. The game generated sounds of wildlife, giving him the soft chirps of birds and the tiny scampering of squirrels. Under other circumstances he might've found it peaceful, but he had enough of a mind to remember where he was. Ragna hesitated in his walk before opening up his menu and the map within it.

' _Looks like I'm still headed the right way,_ ' he thought to himself at he glanced at his location and the distance he was from his target. If he kept on walking like normal he'd make it there in another good half hour. Closing the menu, Ragna was about to head out, but not before he heard something off in the distance. Straining his hearing towards the source of the sounds, he listened to nothing for a moment before hearing a small collection of clangs, indicating metal hitting metal.

Not one for wasting time, the Reaper began running towards the sound of the conflict as fast as his feet could carry him, jumping to avoid upslopes, leaping from tree to tree and sprinting when there wasn't anything to avoid. It didn't take him long before he'd found the source of the sound.

He saw a player, one that was a few inches shorter than he was and covered from head to toe in heavy black armor that was inlaid with with silver metal details and a white cape following behind. From the shapes in the armor Ragna could see that the person was clearly a woman, though he couldn't see her face behind her metal helmet. Currently she was fighting a group of seven gnolls and she seemed to be having trouble holding them off with her large and heavy steel blade. She was already down to half health and four of the hyena-headed monsters looked like they had maximum health.

' _Might as well,'_ Ragna thought to himself before he brandished his blade and rushed forward. Given his level grinding two floors up while he search for the boss dungeon, he was incredibly overleveled for the opponents he was facing and easily carved through three of them with a single well placed slash. The monsters were only able to give off their staggering animations after being hit before shattering into light particles.

The armored woman behind him appeared to be startled for only a brief moment before having to quickly return her attention to the fight at hand. Bringing her two-handed sword up, she managed to deflect the sword slash from one of the damaged gnolls before cutting it down.

" _ **Dead Spike!**_ " Ragna shouted as he sent his traditional from the ground and destroyed the remaining gnolls with a powerful burst of darkness. The result screens came up for the two and Ragna quickly closed his before flipping the blade in his hand a few times before clipping it on his belt and turning his attention to the knight he'd just saved. "You alright?"

"I am, but I didn't need your help," she told him from beneath her helmet as she clipped the large blade to her back.

"That's not what I saw, you looked like you'd be in trouble without me," Ragna argued back as he took a look at her health bar. "Speaking of which you look like you're still several points down." He reached inside his coat and brought out a healing potion which he tossed to the stranger.

"...I had healing crystals on me," the knight told him as she looked at the vial in her hand. "I wasn't in any real danger."

"Just take the damn potion," Ragna grunted. "It takes a while for them to give you back all of your hit points anyways."

Knowing if he'd wanted her dead he'd have likely stabbed her in the back earlier, the knight put the top of the potion through the opening of her helm and took a long swig until the vial shattered into glass when she'd finished it. "Looks like the rumors about you are true."

"I doubt it, what'd you hear about me?" the Reaper questioned as he crossed his arms.

"Well, they say that you're a tall, white haired man in a red coat with heterochromia eyes and you easily wield a large, exotic looking blade with a single hand. You have access to techniques and equipment in the game that not even the most knowledgeable info brokers have any idea how you obtained."

' _Course they don't,'_ Ragna thought to himself. ' _Argo doesn't have any idea where they came from and she's part of my guild for crying out loud. Let's just hope it stays that way._ '

"They also say that you're the strongest player in the game, able to take on floor bosses in small parties and can wipe out large squads of monsters effortlessly… despite being a little _inexperienced_ with a few technical flops." A grunt was made in response to that last one. "So do I have your story right Ragna the Bloodedge, the Grim Reaper of _Rebellion_?"

"...It doesn't tell everything," he responded bluntly, though internally he was actually feeling somewhat pleased that his other title had gotten out. "So you know about me, now who are you and why the hell are you out here at two in the morning?"

"Call me Freya," the woman told him, using the name of a goddess from ancient lore. "And I'm here because I figured I'd get some leveling in. Monsters are stronger and they give more rewards at night don't they?"

"Yeah that's true, but I still don't think you should be here," Ragna told her. "Healing crystals or not you probably wouldn't have had the chance to use 'em I hadn't showed up. 'Sides there are other risks going out late at night besides the monsters being stronger; you come across bigger groups of the 'em and you have a higher chance of being ambushed. Going it alone is suicide."

"Well I don't see your group anywhere," Freya noted as she gestured around them. "Then again you probably have the levels and equipment to stay safe on a floor like this."

"Sure, we'll go with that," the Grim Reaper said passively before turning and heading off to his destination once more. "Go back to town, you shouldn't be level grinding in this death game when you're drowsy anyways.

"Then why are you out here?" Freya asked. "You're not heading back to town… Got something you need to take care of when no one's looking?"

"Something tells me you won't head back no matter what I say," Ragna grunted.

"If you want we could form a party," Freya offered. "If nothing else it will at least give you the peace of mind."

"...Fine," he finally said before sending the invitation. Freya quickly responded and soon the party was formed. "I also sent you a location for the dungeon I'm trying to get to. We've still got a ways to go before we get there, so-"

"I'm taking point," Freya interrupted, causing the Reaper to raise an eyebrow at her remark as she started heading out to their new location. "What are you waiting for? Are we going or not?"

Ragna shook his head and let out an annoyed sigh. " _Yare yare daze_..."

Their journey to the dungeon was an interesting one; they didn't talk much even when they came across the occasional group of monsters. Freya didn't rush in whenever a knoll was present, she was smart and held back and make sure that there weren't any lurking in the shadows. She was also decent enough in combat, here defence was high thanks to her armor and she managed to dish out high damage with her two-handed sword, but Ragna noticed she couldn't move fast at all and when she was surrounded by multiple opponents she tended to get overwhelmed. By the time they finally made it to the entrance of the dungeon, it was clear that Freya was out of breath.

Ragna had actually been in this area before and he recognized where the dungeon was open, last time he'd seen it during the daytime and there had been a large panel that looked like it had a large crescent moon symbol on it. Now the symbol was gone, revealing an entrance into the dungeon. The whole thing was carved in the the side of a good sized mountain of rock and the halls of the dungeon were lit with by small crystals on the wall that all gave off a small turquoise glow.

"You gonna be alright if we keep going?" Ragna asked his traveling companion. Freya didn't say anything, but nodded as she kept her large blade out. "Fine then, keep a teleport crystal ready just to be safe, this is a new place for me and I don't got info on what we'll find here… Oh, and I'm taking point now."

"I'll be careful," Freya promised him, but didn't object to him taking the lead. "I might not be as high leveled as you are, but I can still take a hit."

' _She's not wrong,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as the two journeyed into the mountain side. ' _She's probably got a much higher defense than what I have and she can put out some decent damage in her attacks, but there's her lack of speed."_

As the two walked on down the hallways, the path began forcing them to take turns and down the occassion flight of stairs.

"This is wrong," Freya said as she closely followed behind Ragna with her large blade drawn. "In the entire dungeon we haven't come across a single monster or trap, just a long walkway where we keep descending. What do you think is at the end of this?"

"A strong boss at least," Ragna guessed as they went down yet another flight of stairs. Once they reached the bottom the were finally out of the the long corridor and inside a giant cavern covered in crystal. "Looks like this is the end of the road."

There were turquoise crystals in the in the stalagmites and stalactites and in the center of the room the was a giant mass of crystals which loomed ominously a massive suit of armor. The armor and the kite shield strapped onto its left arm looked charred and brittle, it was stuck kneeling with the helmet slumped over and there was a massive blade impaled through its chest keeping it anchored to the ground.

Freya hesitated for a moment before stepping in front of him and cautiously making her way over to the center of the chamber. Once she was just a few feet away from the armor at the center there was a low rumbling that came from behind her. She quickly turned her head back to see that a wall had appeared where the corridor was supposed to have been, effectively trapping them inside the chamber.

 **(Cue** _Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep_ _ **Enter the Darkness**_ Extended **)**

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Freya said as bursts of light began appearing all over the dungeon as the enemies began warping in. "A very bad feeling."

The creatures brought in were slim bodies about Ragna's height that were made out of a type of shinning crystals. Their swords seemed to actually be literal extensions of their hands, made of the same material as their wielders, and shining as they reflected the light from the illuminating crystals. A small line of text emitted itself above these creatures, giving them their identifying name: _Glass Soldiers._

"Glass huh?" Ragna said as he cricked his neck, resulting in a series of loud pops. "Something tells me that's not exactly a demeaning name."

"Aren't you going to draw your sword?" Freya demanded as the the creatures slowly inched closer to the two. The she-knight could tell that they were moving this slow intentionally, their movement were far too smooth to say otherwise. The beings of glass were making room, letting others of their kind to teleport in from the edges of the chamber. Once they had enough they would rush them and overwhelm them with their superior numbers.

' _It's nostalgic really,'_ the Grim Reaper thought to himself. Time passed slowly as his sight became blurred as he couldn't help but think back to his own world. The cavern he was in changed in scenery, the rocks and crystal were replaced by marble and _Ars Magus_ seals. The soldiers in front of him changed in appearance as well as his mind gave them a different identity. Blue clothing, _Ars Magus_ weapons, official military clothing and well trained battle stances; members of the Librarium's _Pretorian Guard_.

At that point Ragna's body more or less acted on its own as he rushed forward causing a group of the pretorian guard to respond to meet the aggressive assault. Once he was within range, the _SS_ class criminal quickly drew his large blade from his belt and immediately swung it at the nearest officer's torso. The instance the lethal edge touched it victim's body, Ragna's vision returned to reality as he carved through the first of the numerous Glass Soldier, separating its torso from its legs before it shattered to tiny fragments.

' _What the hell was that?_ ' Ragna thought as a cold dead feeling went through his entire body. He wasn't one to remember previous battles and he didn't want to glorify them, but like it or not it had happened. Quickly dismissing the thought and feeling, he focused back to the battle he was currently in and and swung his blade once more, catching three more of the soldier with his sword and destroyed them with ease.

Back on her end of the battle Freya had finally become engaged in battle with the glass creatures. She swung her large blade down, managing to carve a creature through and causing it to shatter. Another one quickly moved forward to take its place, but she then activated a weapon skill that allowed her to quickly her large blade several times, causing enough damage for the _Glass Soldier_ to shatter. Replacing that single was three more of them coming at her from the front, but she unleashed a two skill combination, first a horizontal slash with the blunt part of her blade that swept the enemies together before pulling her large blade back and activating a massive slashing technique that managed to wipe out the three of them at once.

But where those three fell, five more rush forward to take their place. Freya stabbed her large blade forward at one of them, but it only did moderate damage to the creature as she took three sword slashes from other opponents. She then attempted another sweeping technique with her blade, but the first glass soldier managed to defend against it using its sword, cancelling the technique and leaving Freya open for more damage.

Noticing his current teammate in trouble despite the other five _Glass Soldiers_ that he was currently dealing with, Ragna moved with such speed and viciousness so much that the game actually couldn't keep up with him. He quickly brought his sword down and carved through the first monster that had leapt into the air before spinning and swinging his blade through the enemy behind him. He then moved on the enemy to his right by cutting it in an upward arc before bringing the blade down on the one to his left. He then stabbed his sword forward into the final enemy near him before channeling his _BlazBlue_ 's power into _BloodScythe_ and swung it behind him sending out a wave of darkness that passed through all of the enemies attacking Freya. An instant later, every monster that had just been struck (which was all of them) became an explosion of light, leaving Freya protected and very startled.

"You okay?" Ragna asked bluntly as he rest his giant sword on his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah," Freya said in response as she stared at the Reaper. ' _He just wiped out ten monsters so quickly that I couldn't even see it! How can there be someone that fast even if this is a game!?_ ' In her staring she began to take notices that the light particles that the defeated monsters had burst into hadn't faded and were starting to become absorbed into the surround crystals which were beginning to glow brightly. "What's going on now?"

"Don't know, but I'm not feeling too optimistic right now," Ragna said with a sigh as the crystals got brighter and brighter. "Go use one of your healing crystals, this is gonna get ugly."

The crystals then created powerful beams that blasted out and hit the giant sword impaled at the knight in the center of the room, causing the weapon to begin to glow. The entire chamber began to tremble as the knight glowed brighter and brighter before a powerful burst of light encompassed the entire chamber.

Once the light had faded the knight was now standing in full glory. Its earlier rusted armor and shield were now restored, both made out of the same type of crystal found in the dungeon. A breath of wispy vapor came from the helmets opening as the knight reached his free right hand to grab the large blade still impaled in its chest as it was positively shining with pale blue energy. Roughly pulling the large blade out of its body, the creature gave a loud shrill scream as four bars of health and the creature's name finally came up: _The Crystalline Guardian._

"Like I said; ugly," Ragna muttered as the boss rushed forward and its large blade glowed brightly as the guardian activated a skill. The Reaper responded by bringing _BloodScythe_ up and blocking the attack with his blade. Ragna then shoved the attack off as his left hand gave of flame before striking the boss directly in the helmet, but its HP didn't decrease.

"You can't hurt that thing!" Freya shouted as the knight prepared to deliver a powerful shield bash. "It's defense is too high to get through! We have to get-!"

As the crystal kite shield came soaring towards him, Ragna leapt and slid to the side. His timing was perfect and the boss had no way of defending itself. Gripping his sword with both hands and pouring an absurd amount of power from his _BlazBlue_ causing _BloodScythe_ to absolutely radiate with black flames before roaring and sending the blade crashing against the guardian's back. This time he appeared to have taken out at least a bit of its health.

"When you can break through a strong defense at first, you just need to hit it hard as you can!" Ragna told her as the boss turned its body to swing its normally two-handed sword to catch Ragna in the torso, but the Reaper avoided the attack by leaping in the air before bringing the blade down and cutting the _Crystalline Guardian_ across its chest and caused it to stumble back, during which he took the opportunity to rush forward and cut the monster across its exposed right side. "After that just keep hitting the damn thing!" he finished before sending a massive _**Death Spike**_ out which collided into the monster, damaging it further and actually managing to send it sprawling back.

' _It's got to have Ragna selected as a target,_ ' Freya thought to herself as the boss had its back exposed to her. ' _Meaning this is my chance!'_ She rushed forward and charged up her strongest skill and stabbed into the crystal armor's back dealing a decent amount of damage. ' _Now if I can just-!'_

"Freya get out of there!" Ragna shouted from the other side of the chamber.

The warning came too late as the _Crystalline Guardian_ quickly turned and slammed its shield into Freya sending her flying back against the wall. She let out a grunt and tried to move and saw that she couldn't. Looking at her own health bar she saw that not only was she put with barely a sliver of health left with that one attack, but she'd also become afflicted with the _Stun_ condition.

"Damn it…" she groaned as the boss brought its two-handed sword back to impale her and finish her, but a giant glowing blade smashed into its back, dealing damage and returning its attention back to Ragna. " _Bloodedge_ watch out! We're not supposed to be facing him now!"

"No kidding," Ragna grumbled as he brought his barely managed to dodge another large blade strike by a hair's breadth. He then retaliated with another _Soul Eater_ charged sword strike to the monster's chest which dealt a fair bit of damage. His _BlazBlue_ gave a painful throb as his corruption gauge filled, but despite this he just gave a nasty smirk. "But this freak ain't half as tough as the boss I faced on floor eight!"

The boss slashed at Ragna with another sword skill, but the Reaper managed to deflect the blade with a sword attack of his own before cutting it down the chest with a _Power Smash_ skill causing more of its hit point to deplete.

The _Crystalline Guardian_ and the Grim Reaper continued to exchange attacks but the fight was entirely one sided. The boss might have had higher stats, impressive equipment, and four bars of health, but Ragna had skills, techniques, and more importantly speed. No matter what the giant knight tried it couldn't hit Ragna.

' _He's moving like he doesn't have any hesitation,'_ Freya thought as she finally managed to rise to her feet after the _Stun_ wore off. She grabbed a healing crystal out and activated it, restoring her health.

Ragna finally had the boss down to a single red health bar he saw and opportunity and decided to end the boss fight there. As the _Crystalline Guardian_ went for another powerful strike for Ragna's side, but he avoided it by leaping into the air and pour huge amounts of energy into _BloodScythe._ The weapon transformed into its scythe form right before Ragna brought the weapon down and impaled into the knight's helmet. The boss struggled as the Reaper firmly held his scythe impaled in its body for a moment and continued dealing damage. Letting out on final roar, Ragna ripped _Blood-Scythe_ out of the helm resulting in a burst of darkness and causing the boss to stagger back, Before it could even recover, Ragna spun around and drove his scythe into the _Crystalline Guardian's_ side and cut through its waist, finally defeating the boss and causing it to shatter into hundreds of light shards.

 **(End Theme)**

"That was a pain to deal with," Ragna grunted as he allowed his weapon to revert back to its sword mode before clipping it to his belt. His _BlazBlue_ was still emitting a pain filled throb because of his nearly filled corruption gauge, but that would subside soon enough. The results screen eventually came up listing out the rewards he had gotten from the fight and the wall blocking their way out eventually reopened.

"H-how the hell can you fight like that?" Freya demanded as Ragna closed his results screens. "Not even those techniques, the way you move so fast to keep from getting hit. How high are your speed parameters?"

"It ain't the stat that makes it possible," Ragna muttered as he crossed his arms. He saw that a results screen had shown up in front of Freya, revealing that she'd increased in level to 28. "I don't pay much attention to a BS number like that."

"...Thanks for saving my life," she said after a moment's hesitation before she opened her menu and finally removed her helmet, giving Ragna his first glance of the woman underneath. She had a narrow face and olive colored skin. Her hair had a very small clip in it that Ragna recognized as an accessory that could change hair colors, which explain why hers was turquoise. Her hair seemed to be pulled back along the top of her head when she first pulled her helmet off, but it didn't take long for it to reset, setting over the front of her face and covering one of her light green eyes.

"Welcome," Ragna said after he got a good look at Freya. The Reaper then gave a soft yawn as he covered his mouth with his right hand. "We'd better head back to town, this is way later than I'd wanted to stay up."

"Can I ask you for a favor though?" Freya asked. Ragna shrugged so she continued. "I have a bit of col saved up that I can pay you with, so can I hire you to teach me how to fight like you?"

"'Fraid I can't," Ragna dismissed. "Just because I know how to use the moves doesn't mean I know how to teach them." ' _Besides, if I could teach these to regular people, avatars or not, I don't want to think about what could happen to them._ '

"It's not the moves I want to learn it's your fighting style, the way you can hit so hard and move so fast that the enemy can't get a hit on you… Can you teach me that much?"

Ragna was silent as he mulled the request over. On one hand he'd never really tried teach anyone… anything really. He'd learned most of how to fight from Jubei and he'd never thought about trying to teach anyone other techniques. On the other side, Freya had a lot of potential to become a decent fighter, maybe even enough to take a decisive role on the front lines and scout out the dungeons to perform boss raids on. In the end the Reaper decided he'd give her a shot.

"Alright, I'll help," he finally said with a sigh. "Meet me on the floor four tomorrow at ten; first town, north exit."

"Floor four?" Freya repeated. "But those monsters aren't that strong; I can even wipe some of them out in one hit. What are they going to do to get me more ready than I'd be earlier?"

"You'll see," Ragna promised. "Use a teleportation crystal to head back, I think we've done enough for today."

"Tomorrow then," Freya told him as she took her teleportation crystal out and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

With her gone safely, Ragna reached inside his own coat to get his own teleportation crystal, only to find that he didn't have one. Continuing to search, he eventually realized how long it had been since he'd gone shopping for one, meaning he'd just run out when he'd teleported here.

"Damn it…" Ragna groaned as he walked out of the chamber and into the hallway, beginning his long trek back to town to get some sleep for the next morning.

 _ **The Next Morning**_

"So where are we headed?" Freya asked the next morning. The two were walking through the fields of the fourth floor like Ragna had planned, yet he hadn't asked Freya to draw her sword to fight the monsters which remained docile in the field.

"We're headed to the _Mesa Temple_ , heard of it?" Ragna questioned as he tried his hardest to stifle a yawn.

"I think so…" Freya said as she tapped her chin. "I remember one of my college friends telling me about it when we were still trying to clear this floor. From what I can remember it wasn't the floor dungeon, so they didn't exactly pay much attention to it. My friend tried to clear the dungeon when I was working with some of my other friends on a quest, but from what I can understand they didn't make it to the top."

"There's a good reason for that," Ragna told her as he came to a stop. "Namely _Death Path_."

Freya looked at the path ahead of her and quickly understood how it had gotten its name. The pathway was jagged and constantly at an uphill incline. She could barely see the temple in the distance and that was ignoring all of the bends and turns this pathway would include.

"So… _Death Path,_ Freya said to him.

"Yeah, no monsters along the way, no traps, relatively untraveled, and very little rewards at the top," Ragna told her. "You're gonna run up that thing in that armor of yours."

"...You're not joking are you?" Freya demanded as Ragna gave a small smirk and a shrug. "Okay, mind telling me why you're doing this?"

"It's to cheat the system," he told her. "I got some information last night about how this game really works and I think I've got a way to get you combat ready. You know that when you sprint as fast as you can you start to feel sore and tired?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well I need to get you to the point where you don't really care about how tired you feel when you're running. I'm not sure on all of the details, but if you can learn to overcome the limits your parameters put on you you'll be able to move like I can… even in that heavy equipment you're using."

"So… I have to run up and down the mountain until I get used to it?" Freya tried to summarize and Ragna nodded. "Then what happens?"

"Then you'll start sparring with me," Ragna told her as he went over to a nearby flat rock and laid down on it and closed his eyes. "I suggest you get started… oh, and for the record, this is going to be the easy part."

Freya looked like she had a lot that she wanted to say to Ragna, but instead took a deep breath and began her new 'training.' As he listen to the clinking of her armor as she got further and further away, the Reaper gave a small smirk as he thought back to his days from learning under Jubei of the Six Heroes.

 _ **30 Minutes Later**_

' _Damn it_ ,' Freya thought to herself as she continued her training in via running. She'd already made it to the summit of the mountain and now on her first decent. She'd thought that descending _Death Path_ would be much easier, but now it carried its own set of problems. Running up the mountain had already dealt a harsh blow to her stamina making it difficult for her to focus as she tried to keep her footing stable and from falling over on the mountain path.

Unable the take her exhaustion for another moment, Freya managed to come to a stop and bent forward as she tried her hardest to catch her breath. She didn't managed to stay there for long as a small rock harshly crashed in front of her and shattered into shards of glass, surprising her and send her back onto her posterior. Once she was over her shook she heard the small ding and saw that she'd gotten a new message. Shakily extending her finger forward, she opened it.

 _Don't stop running._

 _-R_

Nervously glancing towards the base of the mountain, she saw Ragna down below as he appeared to still be resting on the flat slab of rock like she'd left him when the training had begun. Deciding that she wouldn't take his slumbering form for a sign of ease, Freya closed her menu and continued her descent down _Death Path_.

' _I can do this,_ ' Freya thought to herself as she continued to run. ' _I can beat this, I can get stronger…'_ Eventually the young knight did reach the bottom of the path once more, but she was completely winded when she did so.

"So you made it," Ragna said as he rose off of the rock slab and yawned. "Kind of impressed you did."

"Isn't supposed to be part of my training?" Freya asked him after she'd caught her breath. "Don't tell me you were just doing this to test me."

"Call it that if you want," Ragna said with a somewhat snarky smirk as he swiped his hand downward and opened the menu. He brought out a skin of water and threw it to Freya which she managed to catch, not even hesitating before beginning to chug it down. "What's important is that you followed through and did it, you're serious enough about this where you realize it's going to be a lot of hard work from here."

"Is this what you had to fight through to get here?" Freya questioned as she finished the skin. While she waited for Ragna's answer she tapped the skin and tried to get the last few sweet drops of water out.

"Eh, something like this," he said with a chuckle, giving Freya her first look at the more human side of the _Grim Reaper_. "My old master wasn't exactly the most straightforward in his training, he always gave me these cryptic lines and left them for me to figure it out. Hell, I think I gave you more straight answers in two minutes than he'd give me in two years. ...But he was a good man, a patient one, he had to be if he was teaching me."

"You? Impatient? And here I thought you were only solo playing to look cool," Freya teased Ragna with a smirk. "So what were you training so hard for in the first place?"

"...I had a fight to get ready for… A big one…" The reply was both ominous and dark, hinting to the more mysterious side that Freya always heard in the rumors. "But enough about me," he said as he shook his head. "What's your deal for trying to solo play and wrack up all of those levels anyways? You'd already make for a strong tank if you found the right group to back you up, why go it alone?"

"Hypocrite," Freya accused, leading Ragna to give her a wolfish half smile. "I doing it to get into the _Knight's of the Blood Oath_ like the rest of my friends from college."

"You're training to get into the guild?" the Reaper repeated with confusion. "You know after the recent outbreak in player killings there've been plenty of people who managed to get in, some that probably aren't half as strong as you are. What's taking you so long?"

"There's a test that they do every few weeks that you can take to get into the guild. If you manage to get a decent evaluation you're given a seat with some authority and status. I took the test with four of my mates from college and they had about twenty of us do a boss raid on one of the dungeon bosses. My friends managed to do pretty well and got ranks as squad leaders, but I was too slow. I was always behind on the action, I couldn't even tank and when I did manage to show up I needed some of the others to save me. I still had the chance to join as a new recruit, but I decided I'd try again."

"So that's your story… well you managed to make it once, keep going at it," Ragna told her as he stood. "Run until you really can't do it anymore. I'll come around at noon tomorrow to check on your progress and we'll go from there."

"Where are you going?" Freya demanded as Ragna grabbed a teleport crystal out.

"I've gotta pay for a favor so I want to make sure I got the Col to do it," he muttered before speaking a town name dissolving in a flash of light.

 _ **Later that night**_

"They better not make a habit of this," Ragna grumbled under his breath as he walked inside Lisbeth's smithing tent. The blacksmith was inside appearing to be waiting for Ragna with a bright smile, yet this did little to improve his mood. "I bought the damn food, are you happy now?"

"Maybe... But I'd be a bit happier if you actually smiled," Liz teased, leading to the Reaper gritting his teeth in his frustration. "Oh, come on I'm just playing with you. Mind setting the food and dishes out on the table there?"

"Fine, fine," Ragna said with a sigh as he headed over to the table and opened his inventory before beginning to bring items out of his inventory and started setting them on the table in front of him. "So where's Argo?"

"She's out finishing up with an info hungry customer, but she'll probably be back soon enough. Are you worried about her?"

"A little," the Reaper admitted. As he finished putting the last plate down. "I've gotten plenty of hate mail since people have started figuring out that Argo and I aren't going to hook up… I just don't want anyone to get pissed enough to where they try taking it out on her hide."

"Don't think I'm not gonna be fine," came the familiar voice of _Rebellion's_ info broker as she walked into the tent. "There's no one out there that c'n catch Argo the Rat. Believe me, people have tried."

"Well Ragna's a constant softie, so of course he'd worry about you," Liz again teased, leading to have her guild leader roll his eyes. "Anyways if the gang's all here how about we dig in?"

"Sound good ta me!" Argo said with a bright smile. "Food always tastes better when Ragna's the one buy'n."

"...I'm starting to regret letting the two of you into my guild," Ragna groaned as he served himself a bowl of stew and groad some bread from one of the baskets he'd bought. "You know find this stuff is pricey enough to pay for if you're paying to eat in the restaurant and take out costs even more right?"

"Yep, but it's the deal we made; you get the info you wanted from Argo with the weapons you needed from me and we get a big feast paid from the courtesy of your level grinding," Liz said as she began enjoying a bowl of soup. "If you're going to gripe about it you can at least remember that you were the one that signed up for this."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to extort food out of me!" Ragna shouted with a tick mark clearly visible on his forehead. ' _Looks like there's a part of Tao following me to this day… Just when I thought I was rid of her antics. Although..._ '

"'Ey, what're you starin' at?" Argo demanded snapping Ragna out of his thoughts.

"I-I wasn't staring!" he tried to defend as he quickly turned away. "You just happen to remind me of someone… Someone who had a tendency to eat me out of every cent I had on me and then some."

"It's not particularly difficult to do," Liz said with a giggle and Ragna was beginning to think he'd never hear the end of this. "Oh, almost forgot, I finished those weapons that you were looking for earlier, I'll send them over now."

A notification appeared in front of Ragna, letting him know that he'd received ten _reinforced_ Steel greatswords. These thing didn't deal much damage, but what they lacked there they more than made up for in durability making them perfect for use in sparring.

"Thanks, but why'd you give me ten? I told you that I'd be fine with just six."

"The materials aren't hard to get and these things give off decent exp, so I figured that I'd make you a couple extra, free of charge."

"Just keep it that way…" Ragna muttered as he continued eating his stew.

 _ **TimeSkip**_

For the next week Ragna continued to help Freya prepare for the exam in his crash course of _Hell Training_. By the third day he felt that she'd improved enough to where the two would begin sparring with the blades Liz had made for them. Like Ragna had expected Freya seemed to show difficulty in transferring her newfound speed threshold into actions, but that was why they were practicing with blades.

"If you really want to fight like me you can't afford to let your mind get in the way when you fight," Ragna said as he blocked one of Freya's attacks with ease. "That's not to say don't use your head when you're kicking ass, but if you start taking to long to think about your actions you're done for. Don't think; ACT."

The Reaper's training was both difficult and unforgiving, but that's really the only type out there that can get you results. Eventually the day of the exam arrived and the two found themselves in front of the collection of tents that acted as headquarters for the _Knights of the Blood Oath_.

"Looks like it's gotten bigger since I saw it last time," Ragna commented before smirking. "Not a big surprise really with the surge of new members coming in… You ready for this?"

"More ready than I've ever been," Freya told him as she gripped her fist in determination. "I feel like I can take on the whole damn game myself and I didn't even get any levels while we were training. Speaking of which, didn't you start to fall behind in your leveling?"

"Maybe a little," Ragna shrugged not really caring about the fact that he might've begun to fall behind the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ ; he'd get those levels back soon enough. "Might as well get some level grinding in now. Good luck… but I've got a feeling that you'll do fine."

As the Reaper headed off, Freya gave a small smile to his departing form before opening her menu and equipping her knight helmet. Steeling her nerves she headed into the tent to register for the exam.

As Ragna made it to the teleportation stand in the center of town he paused for a moment before shaking his head. "Damn, completely forgot…"

 _ **Later -Floor Eight Great Plains Dungeon-**_

Freya and the rest of her exam made their way into the dungeon's pre-boss chamber. The journey here had been relatively simple and there wasn't too much testing to be had this early on, just like last time. The journey part of the exam was never meant to be tough, it was only there to weed out the weak from the actual test; the boss raid.

"Alright everyone, listen up," one of the three test proctors began while another waited for their turn to speak and the third went through his menu. "Our target is going to be a boss called. _Horark the Night Chief_ and his band of Orcs that he keeps with him. Now the boss itself isn't that tough despite having a powerful stun attack, but his minions will be constantly respawning making them difficult to deal with. Our plan of attack with be a simple hit and run tactic."

"First we'll have our more mobile units make their way forward and deal as much damage as they can to the orc lines. If the mobile unit's HP drops too low we'll call for our tanks to take point while they regain HP and repeat the cycle. When you make your way to the boss, tanks with will take the front line with half the mobile units to beat down the bosses HP while the rest stay back and deal with the orcs minions that will be brought in. Understood?"

"Sir!" replied the test takers as a whole.

"Good, then we'll head out imm-" the second procter was interrupted as the one that had been looking over his menu whispered something in his ear. "What?! Here in five minutes?! ... Change in plans, take five everyone."

' _What's with the sudden change?_ ' Freya thought to herself before she shrugged. ' _Well whatever, I better triple check my inventory, just to make sure I've got everything ready._ As she opened her menu, she noticed that she'd gotten a new message notification, one that came with a present. ' _What the… it's from Bloodedge._ '

 _From: Ragna  
Date: March 2, 2023  
Subject: Gift_

 _Just wanted to send something your way. I meant to give it to you before, but it slipped my mind. I hope you get this before the exam. Give 'em hell._

 _-R_

Freya took a look at the item that her tutor had sent her. She wasn't familiar with the name, but after reading it just once over a confident smile formed beneath her helm.

 **(Cue** _Sword Art Online_ _ **Swordland**_ Extended **)**

Finally the doors to the boss chamber slowly creaked open and the players made their way inside. As expected the boss was standing at the back of the chamber with a collection of his orc minions in front of him as he towered over them being twice as tall as they were.

"First group forward!" the procter shouted as the mobile units made their way forward to meet the monsters in a collection shouts and the hum of skills activating.

"First monster's down!"  
"These things aren't so tough!"  
"Keep your shield up you idiot!"  
"They're counterattacking!"  
"My HP's starting to drop!"  
"Stay on your side of the battle!"  
"Switch out, I'm almost in the red!"

"Tank group cover them! Mobile group back off and heal! I want you back up to full health by the next switch!" The instant the command was issued, the procter felt a rush of wind hit him as the darkened form a knight rushed from behind him towards the enemy line. ' _So fast!'_

The Proctor wasn't the only one that Freya startled when she passed through the line of the mobile units. All they managed to see was bright light given off by her weapon before she swung it in a ferocious arc and slaughtered three orcs with that single attack.

"What the hell is she?" one of the proctors demanded. "We cataloged everyone's stats before the start of this run and she was on the low end! And what's with her weapon!?"

Freya's new weapon was still a two-hand sword with a wide and thick blade, but this blade was made entirely of turquoise crystal causing it to give off a faint glow even when a sword skill wasn't activated. The crossguard and hilt of the sword was made of ivory and the handle was wrapped by bleached leather. This was the weapon Ragna the Bloodedge had gotten as a last hit bonus against the boss he'd beaten when the two had met; _Turquoise Slayer_.

Freya then moved again and cut through two more orcs and slaughtered them where they stood. With their lines broken the remaining orc minions rushed forward with their axes, but gone was the Freya that would have been overwhelmed by numbers. Replaced by a strong warrior woman that truly lived up to her namesake as she cut through all of the orcs that stood in her way.

"...Damn, I went a bit overboard," she said before giving the smallest of smirks. "All that's left now is the boss."

"The minions are down! Everyone rush the boss!" one of the tank players shouted as they ran forward towards _Horark_.

"Idiot! Stick to the plan!" one of the proctors ordered and the tank player stopped. "Tank players to the front! The rest of you keep healing and get back up to full understand!?" The orc chief grabbed out his oversized warhammer and let out a powerful roar as he charged a technique that caused his weapon to glow crimson. "Everyone get back! That technique's going send out a shockwave! Get hit with that and you'll be immobilized!"

As the chief's hammer sailed downwards Freya instead rushed forwards with her cape flapping behind her as she did so. Her blade's glow increased to another level as she swung it upwards, managing to stop the boss's attack and sent him falling back. With no hesitation she plunged her sword into the monster and swung to the side, creating a large gash.

"It's down! Everyone attack!" Freya shouted as the rest of the players ran forward. With the constant barrage the monster eventually shattered, resulting in the chamber getting clear. The players let out a cheer of joy.

 **(End Theme)**

"Well done," a very well known voice said. The players ceased their celebration as they turned find Heathcliff, the founder and leader of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_. He wasn't alone standing right beside him was his second in command _Lightning Flash_ Asuna.

' _What's Heathcliff doing here?'_ Freya thought to herself. ' _Shouldn't he and Lightning Flash be fighting on the front lines?_ '

"Alright, everyone except for… Freya was it? Anyone who isn't her get out," one of the proctors ordered. "We'll give you our evaluation when we get back to tent town."

Everyone continued talking amongst themselves as they headed out eventually leaving only Freya, Heathcliff, and Asuna in the room.

"You... wanted to speak with me?" Freya questioned, still having no clue why Heathcliff was here to watch a simple entrance exam.

"Indeed I did, I'll admit I certainly believed that I was expecting to see an amazing frontlines fighter… but I certainly wasn't expecting skill of that magnitude," Heathcliff complimented. "We'd actually considered changing exam locations to a different dungeons given the difficulty it posed to new recruits, but you managed to conquer it almost single handedly."

"Can I ask you something?" Freya asked and Heathcliff nodded. "What are you doing down on this floor, and how did you now how to expect me?"

"I received a notice of referral," Heathcliff told her with a soft smile. "Or rather Asuna here did from a close friend of hers. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting the _Grim Reaper_ to have the time to take an apprentice, but seeing you fight I can't image anyone else training you."

' _Ragna sent a letter of referral for me? First the training, then the new weapon, and now an easy entrance into the guild?'_

"At any rate here's my offer," Heathcliff began. "Recently I've started looking to improve my immediate cabinet of top guild players. I already have Asuna as my second-in-command, but how would you like to take a seat next to her as my third?"

' _Third-in-command?_ _In the_ _Knights of the Blood Oath_ _?_ '

"I agree to this idea as well," Asuna told Freya. "With the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ starting trouble we'll need everyone we can get to focus on clearing floors and any friend of Ragna's is a friend of mine."

' _Friend huh?_ ' Freya thought to herself.

 _ **-Floor Eleven Fields-**_

' _Seriously, where the hell is that floor dungeon_?" Ragna grumbled to himself as he stepped out of yet another field dungeon. ' _Might as well send the info over to Argo, maybe she can put it to use or something.'_

Since parting with Freya he'd taken the time to find and clear yet another dungeon on the frontlines. He'd been hoping that he'd finally manage to find the end of the twelfth floor, but it turned out to be just another sub-dungeon. He'd gotten some decent Col and Exp from his exploring so he'd begun to catch up on the time he'd recently spent away from leveling.

As Ragna began his trek back to town he found Freya sitting on a short stump not very far from the dungeon's entrance. Her armor was now the crimson and red colored heavy type that he'd seen heavy units in the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ wearing, complete with a white cape flowing behind her as she carried her helm underneath her right arm. Seeing her attire the Reaper gave a small smirk.

"I take it the test went well?" he asked as he crossed his arms, awaiting Freya's answer.

"It did, moreso that you were able to bring Heathcliff to watch me," Freya told him. "You didn't have to do that."

"You wanted the chance to prove yourself, I just gave you one. Trust me, with all the damn work you put in you earned that job as a squad leader."

"Third-in-command actually," Freya said.

"...Third-in-command of a five man unit or third in command of the guild?"

"What do you think?" the knight demanded with a scowl causing Ragna to chuckle.

"Come on, I'm just kidding with you," Ragna told her with a smirk. "How'd your friends take the news?"

"They're a little unnerved to be working under me, but they're not bitter or anything. So… I was talking to Heathcliff earlier and he brought up any unexplored dungeon a floor down. It's supposed to be pretty tough for this early in SAO, but I've got a feeling it hasn't seen you though.

"Hasn't seen us you mean," Ragna smirked. "Alright, we'll go on one last run, just keep in mind-

"I'm taking point."  
"I'm taking point."

The two blinked as they stared at each for a moment after they'd said it before chuckling with each other and heading out towards the next dungeon.

 _ **Meanwhile -Flour Four: Heathcliff's Office-**_

"-And that's the proctor's final call for today. Overall we've gained 21 new members, three of which had skill to become squad leaders."

"And one with the capability to become our third-in-command," Heathcliff reminded Asuna from his desk as she read the report to him. "How goes the situation on the twelfth floor?"

"We've managed to narrow the floor dungeon down to three possibilities, but the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ may have cleared one or two of them."

"Meaning we'll have to coordinate with them," Heathcliff said with a sigh. "Ragna might not take too kindly to that… Speaking of which Asuna, do you mind if ask you something more personal?"

"Personal sir?" Asuna repeated unsurely. It was clear her commander cared about his fellow guild members, but he was also clearly distant from the rest of the members of the guild. Byfar Asuna thought that she was probably the closest to him, but even in her eyes he was an enigma.

"What's your thoughts on him, Ragna the Bloodedge I mean?" the commander asked.

"He… He's absolutely infuriating!" Asuna ranted, shocking Heathcliff for a moment. "He always insists on having to do everything by himself and I usually have to force him to meet anyone new! And whenever he takes my friend out into the fields he always ends up putting her in a situation that would otherwise kill her! ...But, despite ALL of that, he's still a good person. He's pretty vulgar and can be a big jerk at times, but his heart's in the right place and he never lets anyone die under his watch."

"I see," Heathcliff responded simply. The commander had been hoping for more to go off than that, but he decided not to push for further information.. "You're dismissed Asuna. I'll make a point to make contact with the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ tomorrow, but feel free to spend the day for your own personal needs unless contacted."

"Yessir, I'll see you tomorrow then," Asuna told her boss before leaving.

Once she was gone Heathcliff opened his menu and brought out a wine glass and a bottle of _Le Baiser de la Vie_ , a rare and very sought after drink that he'd gotten as reward for clearing a chain of quests on a prior floor. Normally he wasn't one for drinking, nor was he one for drinking good alcohol without a reason, but this might've been what he needed to concentrate on his thoughts.

' _So he's a teacher now…'_ Heathcliff thought as he poured the crimson liquid into the glass on his desk. ' _No, if he really was I'd have heard of several strong warriors in his party and from what I've seen he has a few mid-level fighters and a blacksmith and he doesn't seem to have any inclination to spend his time training with them. Just what is he?'_

Heathcliff took a sip of the wine and let the taste sink in for a moment. The item was listed as B-rank food item, so it's taste was far above decnet, possibly as good as anything you could find in the physical world. Heathcliff set the glass back on his desk and thought over the other enigma in this game.

' _Now that I think it over, I've never personally seen him in battle. Perhaps I can change that soon. I'll solve your complexities soon enough Reaper, soon enough…'_

 _ **Author's Note**_ **:** First, I don't own anything except for the OC I added in here. I was going to have Freya join Ragna in his guild, but if the readers didn't really care for her overall I wanted an out so I didn't have to show her that often. Hence I now have her working with Heathcliff and Asuna.

Now, for the Omake I've got something a little different planned, and this might be able to change the story in a new direction. There's going to be a survey for this at the end and what's the survey about? ...Read the Omake for yourselves.

 _ **Alteration**_

Ragna gave a tired exhale as he walked back into the town on the ninth floor. It was later that night and clearing a dungeon with Freya had taken longer than he would've liked it to. That wasn't to say that she'd slowed him down, but it did take Ragna a while to map out all of the specifics paths and spawning points as he traveled. He'd split up from the night after the managed to beat down the boss and now he was in town ready to call it a day.

' _Maybe I can grab some of that tapioca pudding I'd heard they were making on this floor,'_ he thought to himself as he continued walking through the town. ' _From what I've heard it's supposed to be pretty damn good and today's supposed to be the last day to grab some._ '

His thoughts were interrupted as a message screen immediately opened in front of him. It said that he'd gotten a message from ' _WildKat,_ ' making it quite clear who was trying to message him. Figuring this was likely important, he headed over to the side of the street he was on and opened the message.

 _From: WildKat  
Date: March 2, 2023  
Subject: New Threat_

 _Hey spikes, knowing you your messaging system probably has its notifications turned off, so I saved you some trouble and turned it back on for you. Anyways I've got myself in a bit of a hard place and I need some help as soon as you can. My shop's going to be located in the usual place, so come find me there. I'll be here to fill you in on the details._

 _-Sanae_

Despite the vagueness of the message, Ragna immediately headed towards Sanae's cafe. Sure enough, the small area off to the side that had been abandoned when Ragna had last traveled here now had a store in it. As the Reaper headed inside, he was immediately struck with a powerful stench that he hadn't smelt in a while; the smell of blood.

"Hey there spikes, so you got my message," the proprietor said pitifully as he gave Ragna a slightly pained smile. His suit was torn and spotted with blood. His dark hair was even messier than he usually kept it and his glasses showed small signs of cracking. His angel wings were also harshly torn and appeared to be missing several clumps of feathers… oh yeah, he has those.

"You look pretty wrecked," Ragna said bluntly as he took a seat at the counter, seeing rather unfazed by Sanae angelic appearance. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I wanted to go and look into something, but it turns out I was in over my head," Sanae said as he took a first aid box out from behind the front counter and worked on patching his wounds. "I found out how we need to deal with this thing, but from here this is on you."

"Somehow that doesn't really surprise me," Ragna told him, clearly used to the situation by now. "So what do you need me kill?"

"A new type of enemy program, one that's become corrupted," Hanekoma said as he wrapped up his scar covered arm in his bandages. "Your presence in this world is starting to result in some adverse effects and you're starting to effect some of the older and unused data bits of SAO. I've never seen this type of monster before in any of the other variations of this world, so you seem to be the most likely cause of its appearance from otherwise being unused. From what I can tell you've probably corrupted the data while you've been using your _BlazBlue._ "

"So this means I've got to stop using it, right?" the Reaper asked as he glanced at him main means of attacking. "Kind of a pain, but I can work with it."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple; even if you completely stopped using the _Azure Grimoire,_ its foreign presence in this world along with your own is still going to create more monsters like the one I faced. The good news is though I got beaten pretty handedly, I DO know how to beat these things now, even if you're the only one that can do it."

"As long as I'm not going in there blind that's good enough for me, it's more than I usually had to go off of anyways," Ragna told the outworlder. "So what does thing look like anyways?"

"To be honest I don't have a clear answer to that. The creature's form was constantly mutating, destroying parts of its body, and recreating them. The little damage I could break through its defenses to inflict were immediately healed. I was able to get a sense of something empowering it though; something that gave me the feeling that belonged to you."

"That's vague," Ragna said to the angel, somewhat coyly at that.

"Hey, if I had any other way to describe it I would, but that's all I really can say about it… that and the monster probably wants to devour the rest of you to become complete. Whatever I was sensing is going to be the key to beating that thing. It's most likely the cause of the mutation and if you take whatever's mutating it you can beat it all the faster."

"And if I don't get whatever the hell you've been going on about? What then?"

"Then that powersource will move on and corrupt a new data source. Right now you and I are the only ones that can interact with these monsters, but I don't want to risk the possibility of them going after the players."

"All right, all right, I got it," Ragna assured him. "So how am I supposed to get this power anyways?"

"Just keep hitting it with your _Soul Eater_ as hard as you can," Sanae told him. "You'll need to fight him to reclaim whatever it was you unintentionally gave him by coming here. After that you should be able to beat it like normal."

"Hey, no biggie, I've been in more complex fights before," the Reaper assured with a small smirk. "So where the hell do I find the big bad?"

"First floor; Illfang's chambers. Head to second floor and backtrack to save time. You shouldn't find anyone this late at night to get in your way." Nodding one last time to the cafe owner, the God Slayer took his leave from _WildKat_ and headed for the town's teleportation stand. The angel grabbed another roll of cloth from his first aid kit and was about to apply it, but he instead gave a bemused smirk. "...Not in the mood for knocking?"

Everything about the newcomer was the very definition of otherworldly, maybe even godly; a body that was composed entirely of light that was surrounded by smoke of black and white. Its face only gave of minors details of the true identity, but Sanae knew the prefered look.

" _ **...You seem to be enjoying your games,"**_ the figure spoke to the angel, its very voice radiating power.

"Heh, saying 'that's the pot calling the kettle black' couldn't even begin to describe your saying," Sanae said with his usual smirk.

" _ **If you insist on acting as a guide, why haven't you told him about IT?"**_

"So now we're playing our usual pronoun game?" Sanae said as his bemused smirk became a more playful one. "Well Joshua, I've been meaning to tell Ragna that I've been spiking his coffee with rum, but I haven't gotten around to it."

" _ **Sanae…"**_

"In all seriousness its not my place to tell him about either of them, its his journey after all and I'm not in the mood to spoil things for him," Sanae said as he finished bandaging his wounds. "Plus I'm still in hot water with the higher ups for bringing him here. I don't need to give them any other reasons to erase me."

" _ **You should have known of the risks of saving someone like him; after all, he the one destined to become death itself."**_

" _Black Beast_ or not, he's already become death itself. I don't think the name Grim Reaper is just there for intimidation," Sanae reminded. "So… are you planning on heading back to Shibuya soon?"

" _ **Indeed I am, and you should plan to do the same; we both have our responsibilities in that city even now…"**_

"I got it, I got it… I guess that just leaves me to wrap up my business here," Sanae said as he finished bandaging himself. "You gotta wonder though, if Ragna did give in to the _Black Beast_ what would we do about it?"

" **...** _ **Therein lies the reason why you need to make sure that doesn't happen, against something like that I doubt there would be anything either of us could do to even slow him. He'd be able to completely destroy this game.**_ "

"The one trying to save the world also carries within him the greatest threat…" Sanae said emotionlessly. "It'd be ironic if it wasn't already tragic."

 _ **-Floor One: Illfang's Chamber-**_

Ragna remained silent as he traveled downwards into Illfang's chamber. This place brought back a few memories, this was where'd he'd first fought alongside Asuna and where he'd revealed his powers to the game as a whole and had started his journeys as a solo player. No he was the head of his own guild (even if he didn't work with them too often) and the players had more or less come to accept that he had these powers (even if there were still people trying to kill him for being so strong).

' _So where is this thing anyways?_ ' Ragna thought as he arrived in the center of the came to a stop, glancing to either side of the chamber as he awaited the boss to show itself. ' _Maybe it's not in too big of a hurry to fight me… but let's see if it'll come after me if I give it a little incentive._ '

Pouring a small amount of energy into his _BlazBlue_ , Ragna sent out a small pulse of energy spread out around the room. The energy couldn't be gathered by the monster and even if it could, there was nowhere nearly enough to gain power from. Normally he detested the idea of being used as bait, but he'd already had a long enough day and the last thing he wanted to was to wait for this thing to grow a backbone.

 **(Cue** _Street Fighter IV_ _ **Seth's Theme**_ Extended **)**

As the wave of energy dispersed and faded, Ragna felt a cold chill creep down his spine. The entire chamber quickly darkened, while the floor and pillars all gave off a low white glow. Ragna heard the slamming of the heavy dungeon doors as they forced themselves shut and the barrier of coding that appeared in front them. From one of the walls Ragna saw a burst of as the monster slowly dug its way out of the wall.

The _Grim Reap_ er kept his hand on _BloodScythe's_ hilt and the monster fell from the wall. The creature was just like Sanae had described, a contorted mess of heads, limbs, and tails of differing monsters (even Illfang's parts were in the mix). It was constantly growing more and more parts and when it's body was too overloaded some of the old part died in small explosions of light particles to make rooms for new ones. All of its heads were entirely focused on Ragna, many of them appearing to be drooling as they stared at his right arm.

"Hmph, all I need now is for you to start blathering about _Azure_ and you'll be just like the last misshapen freak I had to fight through," he growled as he glared at the monstrosity. It was unclear whether or not the monster understood him, only that once he'd said it began its rapid assault towards him. Ragna was still the faster of the two as he quickly grabbed his sword off of his belt while it was radiating dark energy and swung it with ferocity which created a _**Dead Spike**_ that slammed into the lunging monster and sent it sprawling back. As it did a bit of white wispy mist started to emerge from its body.

The monster managed to regain its footing fairly quickly and roared before leaping into and clinging onto one of the pillars with its many arms. It then leapt to a pillar near its position before leaping to another one and another, trying misdirect and overwhelm Ragna. After one final pillar leap it immediately flung itself towards Ragna at high speeds while bringing its several claws out to slash across his chest. The Reaper quickly leapt back to avoid the attack and felt the brush of air as the claws barely missed him, right before the monster reeled his body back lunged forward while he was in mid-air.

Ragna grunted as he managed to block the claws with _BloodScythe_ , but went still went sliding back as the creature pushed him back and tried to claw him and holding his blade back. The Reaper dodged the attacks, and channeled _Soul Eater_ into his sword as he tried to draw back the creature's power. Apparently it didn't seem to like that as it continued to rush Ragna backwards trying to smash his back into a wall. Once he was close enough, Ragna flipped himself over the monster and let go over his sword, letting his attacker crash into the wall in his place. While Ragna was still in midair he transformed his _BlazBlue_ into a claw of darkness and brought it down, rending the misshapen creature across the back and causing it to expel more of the white mist.

The Reaper then charged power into his right arm as and focused as it became encased in black flames. The mutating creature turned and gave a vicious swing with Ragna's sword, trying to kill him with his own weapon. Ragna dodged to the side before unleashing his charged version of _**Hell's Fang**_ and sending the monster sprawling back as it lost its grip on _Blood-Scythe_ and the blade went flying into the air.

"Have a taste of this you freak!" Ragna shouted as he leapt upward and caught _BloodScythe_ in midair. He made the weapon to transform into a _Soul Eater_ coated scythe before bringing it down and cutting his opponent across the chest. Once he landed he let out a roar and spun his scythe around and a massive wave of darkness from the ground and smashed into the monster and sent it fly back as it gave off one last burst of the white mist before it crashed to the ground and the speed of its mutation increased.

' _It's getting out of control,_ ' Ragna thought as the monster continued to writhe on the ground as it continued its chaotic transformation. Seeing that the monster was currently in no shape to fight him, Ragna raised his arm and drew in the mist that creature had expelled. It was cool to the touch, but other than that it didn't make the Reaper feel anything unusual. ' _This shit must've just been for the monster's advantage… Time for me to finished this.'_

While the monster was vulnerable Ragna allowed his scythe to revert back to its sword form before he rushed forward. He figured it would be a simple matter now that he'd taken away its supposed invulnerability it would have been an easy fight, maybe even a little of a disappointment… but that was before he heard the sudden sound of a sickening crack.

His eyes growing wide, Ragna saw that _BloodScythe_ gave off a dull glow before completely shattering into particles of light. His prized weapon, the thing that had gotten him through countless fights and had finally ended the life Yuuki Terumi was gone. The Reaper got a sick feeling in his gut like a part of him had just died… violently.

"Okay... _**NOW I'M PISSED!**_ " he shouted at the creature right before he charged his _BlazBlue_ once more. His arm began emitting the familiar black flame, but it suddenly dispersed as his arm gave off a painful throb and started to go numb. ' _Crap! What the hell's going on now? I-!'_ The sudden rush of immense pain to his head proved to be too much as he fell to his knees. The Reaper's vision began to blur as he had to struggle against impossible odds just to stay conscious.

' _Is that really how you greet someone?_ ' Ragna heard his younger brother say as he witnessed their first reunion in his delusional state.

' _Oh I'm just having too much fun for you to die just yet, BROTHER!_ ' Jin had shouted while they were fighting.

' _Brother... you can't... fight Terumi… You're not… Strong… Enough…_ ' That was after the brothers' second battle in which Ragna had once again emerged the victor.

' _I don't care if it's crazy! I'll end your "dream" with everything I've got, Brother!'_ That… that was after Ragna had decided to end it all, when he decided to end his own existence. Jin hadn't taken the news well and was determined to see his elder sibling fall by his own hands.

He was finally brought out of his delusional trance as he was painfully struck across the chest by a blade and was sent flying back, sending him crashing into a wall. Ragna grunted as his slid down and hit the floor, the wracking pain in his head still barely able to allow him to move. He slowly raised himself using the wall as support as he finally got a look of the monster's true form.

The monster wasn't that much taller than Ragna himself, standing at seven feet tall at most. Its lower body was encased in a collection of belts that made something of battle skirt while its pale, scared, and heavily muscled chest was completely exposed. It's face was surprisingly unscarred and might been normal if not for the long demon horns that protruded from his head and curled around like a rams. The creatures high was long and gracefully, reaching to its waist and sporting a blood red color. But the thing that annoyed Ragna most about this thing was its weapon; a scythe with a dark blade that seemed to be radiating shadowy energy.

Ragna struggled the remain standing and was breathing heavily as the slash animation from the hit he'd taken refused to fade just like his _BlazBlue_ refused to activate. ' _Damn it... I can't do anything,_ ' he thought to himself as the monster continued to glow; probably giving itself several buffs so it could easily finished him in one strike. ' _You always wanted to be the one to kill me Jin… guess you might just have to settle for being the death of me.'_

As the creature finished buffing itself it brought its large weapon back and began charging its move, causing the weapon to glow the same blood red color as its hair. The Grim Reaper's mind was racing, he knew he couldn't take another direct hit from that thing; he was already at a third of his health points. But with the shape he was currently in there was no way he could dodge the attack… and then it happened.

 **(Change theme to** _BlazBlue_ _ **Under Heaven Destruction II**_ **)**

Time slowed to crawl as the boss glided forward, its feet not even touching the floor. Ragna felt a familiar chill course throughout his entire body as the ground in front of him began freeze, causing ice to rise in a familiar cross shape.

' _Is that-?_ ' Ragna could barely think as the monster rushed forward, almost on top of him at this point. Shoving aside the pain as hard as he could, the Reaper rushed forward and grabbed the ice, his hand shattering through the crystals as he grabbed the katana that lay beneath. The demon boss swung its weapon and Ragna, but the Reaper lunged and twisted his body and the blade missed him by mere millimeters. Once he was past the weapon's attack he swung the weapon in his hand as hard as he could, smashing the sheath into the devil's face sending it flying across the room.

Once he landed, Ragna had a brief chance to catch his breath as the monster slowly regained its footing. He placed the weapon in his hand and it was exactly like he'd remembered it. The silk that wrapped the hilt was a dull green, the weapon's unique pommel a dull grey, and the scabbard that housed the blade a deep azure blue; Mucro Algesco _Yukianesa._

"Maybe I spoke too soon," Ragna said aloud as his headache faded and the boss rushed forward to continue their fight. The scythe wielding devil unleashed another powerful slash, but Ragna managed to deflect the attack with the still sheathed _Yukianesa_. That devil's attack might've broken any other weapon, but his brother's sword wasn't a _Nox Nyctores_ for nothing. While the boss was off guard, Ragna unsheathed the katana in his right hand before slashing the monster across the chest with the ice-made blade, cutting it across the chest and leaving a long slash mark in its wake.

' _Least this thing works, but it's still pretty light for my tastes_ ,' the Reaper thought before stabbing the sheath into the monster's gut. The attack didn't cause much damage, but Ragna managed to use it to vault himself upwards, carving along the devil's body with his blade as he did so. Once he was above the monster he delivered a powerful slash to its head, dealing more damage since he was striking one of its vital points. While he was airborne the monster again brought its scythe down upon Ragna as he guarded by crossing the blade and sheath, sending the Reaper flying to the ground where he skidded a good ten meters.

' _Well I can cut him, but without any techniques to use I'm pretty strapped for options on how to fight this wannabe. I've had to fight this thing more than enough times, but using its going to be a different story even if the game doesn't try to block me… Looks like I've got to play by the rules,'_ Ragna thought as he again leapt back to avoid another powerful scythe attack.

When he landed he braced his sword until it glowed indicating that the skill _Spiral Blade_ was active. He then threw the katana at the monster which made several consecutive cuts while the Reaper leapt into the air. Activating _Power Smash_ on the sheath, he leaped into the air and smashed it into the monster's forehead; right between the horns. With the monster stunned, Ragna grabbed the katana on his descent and used _Power Strike_ to attack with both of his weapons.

The devil growled as a black flames slowly wisped out of his maw before it opened it fully and let loose a powerful blast of them, but the attack was blocked by Ragna as he brought up a barrier and held his ground. After the attack was over Ragna retaliated by hitting the monster with a double _Power Smash_ from both of his weapons and sending the monster crashing through one of the pillars. Ragna was about to rush forward and deliver the final blow, but that was before he felt a chill coming from the katana's blade. Turning his head he saw that it was emitting an icy mist and a lot of it.

' _Huh, so thing's finally starting to warm up to me… in a sense,'_ Ragna thought to himself as a snarky smirk formed. ' _Let me see, how did my little bro always do it again?'_

With the scythe wielding boss recovering, Ragna sheathed _Yukianesa_ , got his footing right, and waited for the right movement to attack. When it finally began to rush him, he raised the sheathed above him like a bow and poured Ars Magus into it, causing a giant spiked icicle to appear perpendicular with the blade.

" _ **ARROWS OF ICE!**_ "

A complete torrent of the icicles was fired out at the monster, hitting it square in the chest. Ice formed and grew as it was struck making impossible for the monster to retaliate. Once the arrows were launched Ragna brought the sword behind before drawing the blade and unleashing one last final slash as he cut through the monster completely. The demon gave one final scream before it became made of static and fizzed out completely, much different than the death of an actual monster in the game.

 **(** _ **End Theme**_ **)**

Ragna let out a deep breath of relief before sheathing the sword and twirling it in his right hand as the room returned to normal. Being saved by the same sword that had nearly gutted him more than a few times was an irony not lost on the Grim Reaper. The appearance was still a bit on the odd side and made little sense, but Ragna figured that if his presence was going to screw up the game so badly crazy things were bound to happen… still he hoped he still had _BloodScythe_.

Deciding he'd check, the Reaper swiped his left index finger down and opened the menu so he could go to his inventory. Apparently he hadn't gotten any Col or Exp from that fight, but he hadn't really expected much from that anyways. Heading into his equipment menu he indeed saw that he had his own sword. It wasn't equipped, but was certainly usable. Letting out a sigh of relief he closed the menu.

"Well that's one problem fixed… Maybe I can finally get some of that tapioca after all, I mean I've certainly earned it after what I just had to fi-" Ragna winced as his head again painfully throbbed. "Ugh! Now what?"

' _...Black Beast…'_ came a horrid voice. Gritting his teeth in hatred, Ragna turned his eyes to the source, _Yukianesa_ itself. This is what it meant to use a _Nox Nyctores_ , the same curse his brother had to fight through. ' _...You're the bane of the world… You must be purged, annihilated, ended… You death toll shall-_ '

"Shut up," Ragna grunted be sending a rough pulse of his _BlazBlue_ energy into the sword. The voice gave a pained scream before turning silent. The Reaper shook his head as he opened his menu and changed out his new weapon for the classic. "The day I let a damn hunk of ice tell me what to do is that day I become best friends with Yuuki Terumi."

 _ **So for the survey… canon, or non canon? Discuss. Props to donkike07 for pointing out the idea. I want to see what everyone has to say about this.**_

 _ **Later y'all!**_


	18. Unresolved Developments

_**Blade XVII: Unresolved Developments**_

"At this rate I'm going to get insomnia," Ragna said to himself aloud as he layed on the bed he'd rented from the Inn he had stayed in the last time he was on the eleventh floor. It was only a few hours after he'd beaten the nameless Reaper monster back on floor one and had gotten the ability to wield Jin's Nox Nyctores; _Yukianesa_. Part of him had thought that the new weapon was trying to get back at him by denying him the freedom of sleep, but he hadn't heard any of the weapon's threats or gotten any weird feelings since he'd returned to using _BloodScythe_.

' _Might as well make the most of this,_ ' Ragna thought as he opened up his menu and went to his equipment. He selected his katana to look over its attributes. ' _Let's see… this thing's numbers don't come close to Bloodscythe's_ , _but I guess that's because I haven't been doing any smithing work on it… Under abilities all I've got are my bro's_ _ **Arrows of Ice**_ _technique that I used on that asshole in Illfang's room, that annoying I_ _ **ce Blade**_ _attack that he always used to use whenever I was at a distance from him and I've also got_ _ **Crystal Strike**_ _, based on the description it's that charging attack where he basicly charges at my on a flying icicle._ '

Thinking back to the sword's old wielder and some of the previous battles that the two had fought left the Reaper with a touch of bitterness. As annoying and bloodthirsty Jin was, the guy had still been his little brother and he'd more or less left him in charge of things… if he'd even remember what Ragna had told him in their last moments.

' _Get it together,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as he got out of his equipment menu. ' _No point in thinking about the past, Jin's probably doing better off now that he doesn't remember me…_ ' Ragna was about to completely close out of the menu, but his eyes were caught on one of the details. It was 12:13 AM meaning that the date was already reading for the next morning; _March 3rd_ , _2023._

"...Dammit, no way I'm getting any sleep now," the Reaper growled in defeat as he rose from his bed and headed out of the room.

After exiting the inn, he headed out of town to the darkness of the frontline fields once more. Once he was sure that he wasn't being followed and that there wasn't anyone here to see him, he opened his menu and changed _BloodScythe_ out for _Yukianesa_. He was pleased to find that the sword wasn't giving him any of those demeaning mental threats like it had last time. To make sure the situation hadn't changed he drew the blade once more and watched as cool mist was emitted from the hilt. Figuring that he didn't have much to worry from the monsters even if this was the front lines, the Reaper sheathed the blade and started looking for trouble.

Unlike the night when he'd met Freya, Ragna headed a completely different direction without a destination to keep in mind. The forest was a oddly quiet that night, not a single sound of nocturnal creatures had been artificially emitted and it was rather unnerving. Ragna didn't feel a single breeze of wind blow through, but he was feeling unusually cold, even for how late in the evening it was (or morning in a technical way). The weather didn't improve and eventually he could even see his own breath when he exhaled.

"Tell me it's not going to start…" Ragna began, and low and behold it immediately began. "...Snowing." His red and green heterochromia eyes narrowed as he glared at the first light flakes that fell to the ground. Soon the whole sky was full of snowflakes, leading Ragna to turn his glare to his weapon. "You trying to piss me off?" The sword didn't say anything so Ragna decided to leave it be as he made his way forward to find a monster.

By the time he'd finally come across his first Hobgoblin, the ground and branches were already covered in a thin layer of snow and he had bits of snow on his coat and hair… though you couldn't really tell that easily with the latter (normally). Trying to remember how his brother did it, Ragna tried to focus his energies in order to create a sword of ice in front of him. He managed to do it with some difficulty, but aiming the sword seemed to a far more difficult feat as he his first attack against the monster didn't even come close to hitting it. Fortunately, the creature seemed pretty oblivious to the attacks directed at it (due to how badly Ragna was missing), but eventually he managed to figure out that the trick was to form an _**Ice Blade**_ attack already facing the opponent because it was more difficult to direct the sword once it was created.

Taking the time to carefully aim his attack, Ragna created another _**Ice Blade**_ and let it fly out and smash into the targets chest. The monster finally realized it had been attacked and turned to finally barrel towards its attacker. From the distance he was standing, Ragna saw that he'd taken out about a quarter of its health, so he continued to fire the swords as the target ran towards him. Like he'd thought, it took a full four _**Ice Blade**_ attacks to finish the Hobgoblin's health and cause the beast to shatter.

Ragna knew that he could finish his fights easier if he used his own blade, but if he'd managed to get his hands on Jin's sword he figured he could at least trying using the damn thing. Carrying the sheathed katana in his left hand, the Reaper continued his nightly walk.

 _ **One Hour Later**_

Back in his own world, Ragna had needed to go through plenty of shelterless nights. True, there weren't too many where he'd had to sleep through snow, but at least he'd be ready for the long trek he was forcing himself through. By now the snow was deep enough for him to leave deep foot prints behind him and it continued to fall in large clumps from the clouds above. He'd been having encounters as he walked, but they were fewer and farther in between than when it hadn't been snowing. As the Reaper finally managed to make his way out of the woods, he found himself at the entrance to a large cave.

' _A dungeon? Out here?_ ' Ragna thought to himself before he swiped down his left hand to open the menu. Following a couple of icons, he opened his map of the floor and identified his current location. ' _Huh, looks like this is one of the few that the major guilds haven't reported completing yet. I could check it out, I am supposed to try and piss off the_ _Holy Dragon Alliance_ _and I think clearing another floor might do the trick. But now that I got a guild with me, that might be moving a bit quick. They're already miffed that Argo was able to weasel Col of 'em and I'm not sure she can handle herself if they try to go after her or anyone else in my guild…_ '

The Reaper was snapped out of his deep thoughts by the haunting howling of the wind. The temperature had just dipped a few degrees colder and the wind was starting to blow pretty harshly, pushing more snow into Ragna's face.

"...Might as well go inside and get out of the damn weather at least," he muttered to himself as he entered the cave. Once he'd escaped the harsh frigid weather, the Reaper shook his body to rid himself of the snow that had collected on him. "At least the bastard that made the death game paid attention to detail; felt like I was really freezing out there."

The inside of the cave was much warmer than it had been outside and the rocky walls were aligned with fallen trees and gathered branches. Not wasting any further time, Ragna continued through the cavern and kept his sword at the ready. As he continued further on, he heard light breathing coming from around him… no it was snoring and it was coming from the branch piles. Keeping his hand on his katana's hilt, Ragna slowly edged himself to the clearing sides and found a group of bears sleeping inside.

' _They're hibernating,_ ' he thought as he allowed himself to be more at ease. ' _The snow must've put 'em to sleep, meaning that I don't need to bother with them as long as I'm careful._ ' He chuckled as he continued onwards. ' _Let's just find the end of this dungeon and get it over with._ '

He didn't need to search for long as the path was straightforward, only blocked of by branches at a few points. Ragna nimbly made it through obstacles and managed to do so without disturbing any of the resting creatures. Without having to fight through so much as a single encounter, he finally made his way to the large door at the deepest parts of the dungeon, the design of which he was starting to become familiar with.

"Another floor boss," he muttered aloud. "Starting to feel like I'm the only person that find these damned things… I'd be taking whatever's behind this door on alone, and there's next to no chance that they won't know it's me this time… Still, we've be stuck on this floor for long enough and we'll be stuck in this hellish game for longer." Forcing his head from side to side, he got a few pops out of his neck before taking in a deep breath to steel himself and entered the floor boss's chamber.

 **(Cue** _ **Under Night In-Birth**_ _Scraper Sky High_ **Extended)**

Like many other boss chambers before it, this room was darkened and even with his enhanced senses Ragna wasn't able to see very far. What he could see as he looked further into the the darkness was a pair of violently glowing hazel eyes that stared at him in bloodlust. Judging by the outline of the thing's shadow he could tell that this thing was massive. Then the floor finally lit itself and revealed bathed the entire room in an eerie glow. Standing before him was a giant animal with thick spotted brown fur and razor sharp teeth that shone bright as diamonds. Four life bars appeared around the creature as its name appeared on above it; _The Sleepless Lynx._

"Heh, at least we have something in common," Ragna lamely joked before rushing forward. The boss gave another snarl before it opened it mouth and unleashed a powerful burst of flames upon Ragna to incinerate him. To counter, he unsheathed his brother's blade and with a powerful swipe of the Nox Nyctores he managed to disperse the deadly flames. Leaping forward, Ragna seized an opportunity and managed to the creature across its eye, staggering it for a moment but doing surprisingly little damage. "Sounds about right; guess _Bloodscythe_ has the better numbers for brute force attacks."

The Lynx then activated a monster's skill and charged toward Ragna with a fast and deadly bullrush. Ragna quickly created an _**Ice Blade**_ and launched it at the creature to deal a small amount of damage, but it didn't slow the creature. When the creature was right on top of him Ragna charged his energy into _Yukianesa_ and leapt skyward, cutting it across its face and avoiding the charge. The creature snarled as it turned while Ragna was airborne, so the Ragna tried to follow up with another attack.

" _ **Gauntlet Hades!**_ **"** he shouted as he twisted his body in mid-air to perform a somersaulting kick, only to see that it lacked any of the dark energy or power that his move was known for having. Noticing the claw that was coming to swat him out of the air Ragna used his _Double Jump_ to leap in the air to avoid the attack.

" _ **Arrows of Ice!**_ **"** Ragna shouted as he readied his brother's signature technique and fired a barrage of icicle projectiles downwards and caught the Lynx in its exposed back. The creature staggered at the flurry of attacks as Ragna landed to the ground. **"** _ **Hell's Fang!**_ **"** Ragna shouted as he tried using his regular attack, but again the effects from his _BlazBlue_ were absent and he merely rushed forward with a powerful punch to the creature's side. "Dammit, looks like using this thing cancels out my _Soul Eater_ drive."

The _Sleepless Lynx_ then managed to recover and swung its entire body in a violent torrent to slam into Ragna. The Reaper raised a barrier in place to protect him from the attack, but he was sent flying back. Twisting his body in midair, Ragna managed to land his feet on the wall and keep himself stuck there for a brief moment thanks to the force. He also saw the Lynx leaping towards him so he quickly charged his weapon's sheath with one of the game's sword skills.

Leaping off the wall he headed straight for the boss and smacked in square in the face with the katana's sheath. Using the attack to vault himself upwards, Ragna then attacked with another sword skill on the katana's blade and stabbed it downwards into the back of the creature's neck. With the blade still impaled in his opponent's back, Ragna ran along the entire length of the airborne creature and continued to cut it before coming to the end and violently tearing his sword out. The creature screamed as he finished and Ragna turned in midair and sent a final _**Ice Blade**_ at the monster for good measure.

Landing on the ground, Ragna figured it was time to finally finish the battle. The Lynx again breathed a massive blast of flames, but Ragna just as easily dispersed it with _Yukianesa_. **"** _ **Crystal Strike!**_ **"** he called out as he rode forward on a large icicle and smashed it into the boss's face. He then twisted his body in midair, to deliver a follow-up strike, but instead of striking it with his current weapon he activated his _Dark Equip_ ability and traded his brother's katana for his own destructive blade. Transforming his sword into a scythe, he brought the massive blade down into the creature's skull.

The Lynx roared as it tried to escape the Reaper's deadly attack. Ragna didn't let up and kept the monster pinned in the ground as his continued to drain its health. Once it was low enough to finish it off, he tore the blade out and unleashed a burst of darkness from its head. Ragna then allowed his weapon to transform into back into a sword to deliver the finisher.

" _ **CARNAGE-!"**_ he shouted as he rushed forward and carved the creature across its face. He then twisted around and delivered the massive follow-up. _**"SCISSORS!**_ **"** The massive blast of darkness tore into the creatures and caused it give one final shout of pain as it lost the last of its hit points and finally shattered.

 **(** _ **End Theme**_ **)**

Ragna remained on guard as the monster's light particles slowly faded around him and waited until the _Congratulations_ sign finally appeared before he twirled _BloodScythe_ in his hand and reset it back on his belt. The Grim Reaper then saw that the large collection of logs and branches disappear in a flash of light, revealing the staircase that would take him to the twelfth floor.

"So that's another floor cleared," Ragna said to himself mildly as the results screen finally came up. "Wonder how long its going to take the _Alliance_ to find out about this?"

Tapping through his result screen Ragna saw that while he'd gotten a fair amount of Col he didn't get close to enough experience for his next level up, but he'd figured that with all of the experience grinding he'd had to do lately it would make sense that he was overleveled enough to where not even a floor boss would be able to get him the xp he needed to reach his next level. The Reaper then checked the items obtained section, trying to see what he'd gotten as a last hit bonus, but nothing showed up on the screen.

' _Weird, did they not do a last hit bonus for this floor? The only time I've seen this happen was when I had to take on Grendel, but this fight wasn't nearly as hard…_ '

Several other notifications then came up, revealing that Ragna had actually managed to unlock several skills, all of them looking like they had something to do with his brother's sword. The Reaper began to read over the messages so he could see the use of each gained ability.

"Let's see here… first there's an ability called _Frost Gauge_. Wonder if it's anything like that _Corruption Gauge_ ability I got on my _BlazBlue_? Apparently it fills up when I hit something with my sword or use an Ars (special attack). An I can use it to fire of an _Advanced_ Ars (Jin's Ex Moves) or a _Distortion_ Ars. This oughta come in handy, wonder what else there is?"

Looking further at what he'd gain, he saw that he'd unlocked his brother's _**Snow Flower Storm**_ technique where he could unleash a blitz of sword swings at an opponent at close range. He'd also unlocked _**Permafrost**_ , an aerial attack that allow him to execute a large sword swing using the sword ice ability to increase its range. He also had an additional ability called _Ice Equip_ which would allow him to summon _Yukianesa_ to his hand or switch it out for _Bloodscythe_. All in all, it looked like he had all of his major bases covered.

Ragna shrugged to himself before he closed his menu and headed for the stairway to open the next teleportation stand. He'd only taken a single step before he heard a collection twigs snapping from one of the branch piles near the wall. Reacting immediately, Ragna got into a battle ready position by grabbing his sword's hilt and readied himself to draw the blade. There continued to be a series of rustles coming from the pile before out burst… a young fox with orange fur.

"...Okay?" Ragna said as he let himself relax. "So I beat a floor boss and suddenly… there's a little fox?"

It's true that Lynxes are considered one of the Fox's natural enemies, but that wouldn't explain why one would show up immediately following a boss fight. The fox gazed up at Ragna with curious yellow eyes as it approached without much wariness. The Reaper didn't make any movement, he just continued to stare at the fox until it was standing right in front of him. The fox looked up at Ragna in some sort of expectation, before tapping on his plated shoe with one of its front paws.

"There supposed to be a point to this?" the Reaper asked as he knelt in front of the fox. The creature didn't retreat, not even when Ragna started gently petting it behind the ears. In fact when the Reaper brought it hand back after petting it, the tiny canidae got on its hind legs and tried to catch the hand with its front paws and latch on. "Well you're friendly at least, playful too I guess."

Looking at the creature from a player's perspective, Ragna realized that it had a yellow mark above its head, signaling it wasn't an enemy monster with their red marks. It also had what looked like a full life bar to the side of it as well. Looking at the little creature, the Reaper was beginning to make sense of this.

"This thing's an animal helper then," he thought to himself aloud as the playful fox continued to try and grab his hand. "This early in the game they're supposed to be really rare… Ah hell, sides that I don't know anything about them which means…' Ragna's expression got immediately darker as he dreaded what was about to transpire. "I need to ask for help."

 _ **Morning -Tent Town-**_

After activating the teleport crystal on the twelfth floor, Ragna had headed back to his inn to try and catch what little sleep he could. He'd managed to get a few hours in and was up feeling rested since he was still used to his 'biggest bounty in history' sleeping schedule. He'd yet to get something for breakfast, but he figured that could wait until he got the answers he wanted.

"Try not to get into too much trouble," he told the fox standing beside him as they stood before Lisbeth's shop. "These two happen to be a little… different."

The creature cocked its head to the side, leaving Ragna unsure to whether or not it had understood him. Since the Reaper had never really taken care of an animal before (barring the time he'd spent with Tao), he'd simply done his best to keep it close to him and out of trouble. He'd tried to keep it at the foot of his bed when he was sleeping, but by the time he'd woken up it had already curled up on his chest and was snoozing contentedly. He didn't have a problem with it as long as his clothes didn't start smelling like wild animal. He'd been worried that it'd wander off whenever he walked through town, but it had done its part and had stayed pretty close to the Reaper.

Anyways, Ragna headed up to the tent flap and tried tapping on the door, but it wouldn't let him in because it was considered _locked_. He grunted in annoyance, since he was a little low on patience at the moment.

"Liz, hey Liz! Open up!" he called, trying to get the blacksmith's attention. "Lisbeth c'mon! ...Argo, you in? Anyone? Helloooo?" he was finally reward a moment later as the tent's flap finally opened. "'Bout time you-"

 _ **SMASH!**_

"Gah!" Ragna grunt as he was smacked upside the head by a heavy mace. The attack was enough to send the Reaper off his feet before he back on the ground and skidded to a stop. Raising his head, he glared at the woman who'd hit him.

"Idiot! Don't you realize what time it is!?" Liz shouted at the Reaper. She looked like she'd just gotten out of bed. She was wearing a tan bed robe over what looked like a pink nightgown. She was missing her usual hair pin, so her hair was its natural shade of brown and she had gotten a crazy hairdo from sleeping.

"Morning," Ragna said bitterly as he rose to his feet. His newly acquired fox got in between the two and let out a protective growl as it tensed its body to defend Ragna from another attack.

"Who's this?" Lisbeth asked grumpily, evidently still pissed that Ragna had awoken her.

"New friend I made," he explained halfheartedly as he got a few painful pops out of his neck. "Argo in? I got a few things to ask her about… this."

Liz glanced from the small fox to her mess of a guild leader and let out a long sigh. "Fine, I'll go get her, but wait outside."

"Fine, fine," Ragna muttered. While Liz headed inside to grab Argo he managed to take a glance at his health bar. ' _Wait… I'm down a chunk of health. I'm still in a safe zone, but for some reason I can still take damage._ ' Despite the new realization, the Reaper wasn't exactly worried. His HP still came back automatically and it didn't look like Liz had taken noticed. Long as he didn't screw anything up, he wouldn't have anything to worry about.

Argo came out shortly after Lisbeth had gone inside the tent. She let out a yawn and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Getting dressed was a pretty quick thing to do with menu selection, which begged the question of why Lisbeth saw fit to smack Ragna upside the head in her morning robe. Once she'd overcome her intense drowsiness she noticed the fox in front of Ragna.

"You got a pet," she noted plainly.

"And I don't have any idea on how to take care of it," Ragna muttered.

"It? You didn't name your new pet?"

"Text box never came up."

"...Do you even know the companion monster's gender?" the infobroker asked him, setting the bar kind of low for her guild leader. She figured that Ragna hadn't looked it up, but even he could take a 50/50 guess and-

"They have those?" the Reaper asked as he looked down at the Fox that was sitting before him.

"...Ya know, I'm beginning to wonder if you're just the master of dumb luck in this game. It's the only reason you could have survived this long."

"I know how to fight, remember?" Ragna growled.

"Maybe, but no amount of combat proficiency could get you out of yer screw ups with the game," Argo told him while rolling her eyes. "Why not go to Silica for help with this?"

"I've actually got a different question for you... just don't expect me to pay another fortune for your breakfast, I'm getting tired of that crap."

"What's w'th you? Ya seem more on edge than usual, 'n that's sayin' something." Argo the Rat seemed to have some genuine concern in her tone for the older player, something that Ragna hadn't seen much before now.

"...Didn't get much sleep last night," Ragna told her as a half-truth.

"Grumpy then?" Argo said as she scratched the back of her head. "I know a place close by that makes dec'nt food. Not too costly either."

Ragna nodded his head in acceptance before remembering the stories still going around about the two. "Are you alright… you know, being seen together? People might remember the whole… _engagement thing_."

"Awww, afraid ta be seen in public with yer ex?" Argo teased.

"Whoa! Whoa! Let's not start play the 'ex' game, alright?" he tried to defend himself. "Seriously though, you okay with it?"

"Yeah, place should be em'ty this time of morning anyways," Argo told him before smirking evilly. "That way only the NPC's will be seeing you playin' footsie with me."

"Guh-ARGO!" the Reaper shouted with a face as crimson as the jacket he wore. His shout was so loud that his newly acquired fox gave a high pitched yelp right before it leapt into the air in surprise. Looking at the poor startled thing, Ragna felt just a bit guilty for yelling. "Does that restaurant serve animals? Oh what am I saying; they'll have no problem serving a fox if they serve a rat."

"Hey! I'm fond a' that nickname!" the infobroker told him with a solid punch to his arm.

 _ **Later -Restaurant on Floor Three-**_

To Argo's credit, she'd been right when she'd told Ragna how empty the restaurant was. It might've been because it was still early in the morning, but other than the two them there were only a few staff members and a middle aged man with his blond hair done into a ponytail sitting at a table in the corner by himself reading one of the Guild Reports as he drank his coffee.

Not wanting to take any chances, Ragna took a seat in the corner farthest from the patron, hoping that this guy knew to mind his own business. It didn't seem like there'd be much of an issue and the guy kept his eyes to himself and his paper. Shaking his head Ragna glanced down to his young fox companion and saw that it had curled up beside his legs. Instead of ordering his food from a pop-up menu, Ragna decided he'd merely wait until one of the staff owners came over to take their orders; as long as the restaurant was quiet he didn't see any need to hurry though his meal.

"I ain't gonna mince words," Argo told him right off the bat as she opened her menu and put a hot chocolate in front of her. "Your fox friend might be more trouble than its worth, maybe it won't be a help at all. Out of all of the animal companions, the foxes are the weakest. They got bad DPS (damage per second), awf'l defense, only decent agility, and they can't fly like th' dragons can. They got a couple of buffing techniques, but it takes a lot experience to raise 'em.

"Buffing techniques? You mean techniques that can raise your stats?" Ragna questioned as a waiter made his way over. "I'll have coffee, pancakes, ham, and some hashbrowns… Oh, and something for the fox here." The waiter nodded before looking to Argo.

"Just give me a cinnamon bun," she told the waiter, who nodded. "Yeah, most boost your stats, but like I said foxes eat up half your XP which is a bad trade off. Most of the time the stat increases you could've gotten if you'd kept your experience would've been more useful than hoping that your fox helps you out instead of giving you an NPC you need to guard… at least that's what it was like during the beta."

"Just what is the Beta?" Ragna asked as his fox decided to abandon the floor and leapt into its owner's lap before laying down and resting its head on the Reaper's more comfortable knee. "...Okay, you can stay here until the food comes out," he reluctantly agreed before petting it.

"You really don't know what a Beta is? That's pretty basic," Argo muttered before sighing. "Then again, who am I takin' to? A Beta is when a game's released to a select few people before being released to the public. They're giv'n the game to test it out, make sure that there aren't any major bugs, and give a general opinion on balancing."

"I think I get it… So the people that have been getting called out, _the Beta Testers_ , they're the guys who tried out the game back when it was only a beta so they have a better idea of what to expect," Ragna guessed to Argo's nod. He looked back and saw the man that had been sitting and drinking his coffee was getting up and was headed out the door, leaving the two alone with the NPC wait staff. "What happened to the fox companions that were in the beta?"

"There were three NPC's that got foxes and all three of 'em were outta combat. One lost their fox early on and didn't have any way to revive 'em so it was gone for good. Second guy left his fox in his house and kept him as a pet. The third one tried to stick with his for awhile, but they were so bogged down by 'em that they couldn't keep up. Eventually he tried to kill him just to see if he could recover all th' XP he lost… he couldn't."

"Well at least I'm not going to worry about anyone stealing…" Ragna then used the time to open his menu, and looked at the subsection for his animal companion. "... _Her,_ " he said as he finally had a gender to give his companion. "Hey Argo, those beta players… were you...?"

"...That stays between us," she told him. "No one else knows about this… _No one_."

"Don't worry, I know what kind of shit this could stir up," the Reaper promised her as his fox contently relaxed on his lap. "So… about my friend here? What can you tell me about how to take care of her?"

"Well, first thing is to come up with a name to call 'er by," Argo suggested. "Let's see, what would be a good name for a fox?"

"Maybe I could just call her _Kitsune_ , Kit for short," Ragna suggested before shrugging and putting it in. "Well let's go with that for now, if I need to I can always change its name later if I even come up with something better."

 _ **Author's Note: I'm open to all suggestions, just let me know what you think would make a good name. It might take a bit of convincing for Ragna to change its name, but like I said, I'm open to suggestions.**_

"Yeah, that's true. As far as takin' care of your friend, it's pretty self explanatory; don't starve 'em, treat 'em with respect, and spend some quality time with 'em every now and again and they'll turn out fine."

"But that's if want to keep on as a pet, what about for combat?" Ragna asked as their waiter arrived with his food. He snapped his fingers and pointed to the ground and Kitsune complied to the order without hesitation. The waiter skillfully put their plates on the table and a small bowl of fox feed on the ground for the fox. A pop-up window appeared in front of both players, but Ragna took care of the payment in full.

"Ya know, for someone who hates havin' to pay out fer meals, you're always quick to pay the tap," Argo noted before she took a bite out of her cinnamon bun.

"Call it a force of habit; last thing I want to do is have to leave without paying," he told her, thinking back to the dine and dash he'd performed with Tao some time ago. Digging into his own meal, he tried to keep the conversation going. "Again, what am I going to need to do to keep a fox in combat?"

"Yer still considering that, even after what I said?" Argo asked, not sure whether to sigh at Ragna's stubbornness or to be impressed that he didn't mind an extra challenge. "Well… I guess we take it with us to into battle… Maybe we could do a team up?

"If you want to tag along I won't stop you, just make sure you don't slow me down," Ragna told her.

"Yeah, yeah… Say, where'd you get her anyways? Never got around to askin' that," Argo asked. Her guild leader didn't answer immediately, it took Argo a minutes, but she got to the obvious conclusion. "You… you cleared 'nother floor?"

"...Let's be honest; at this point no one has any right to be surprised."

 _ **Meanwhile -**_ _ **Knights of the Blood Oath**_ _ **Headquarters-**_

"That idiot… he can't be seriously this dense," Asuna muttered to herself as she looked at the small pop-up screen in front of her. The sender of the letter was Silica and the contents of said letter was enough to annoy _Lightning Flash_ to no end. She was so preoccupied with the contents of the letter that she didn't notice the commander approaching her from behind.

"Asuna, is everything alright?" Heathcliff asked with an eyebrow raised, leaving Asuna to turn and face him as she tried to rid herself of her scowl, but was just a second late. "I know that look… This has something to do with Ragna the Bloodedge, doesn't it?"

"Yes sir," Asuna told him as he she closed the message. "Sorry, but I'm going to need to request a day off for today."

"Spending the day with our dear Reaper are you? Are you planning on heading with him to floor twelve then?" Heathcliff asked.

"Floor… Twelve? It's been opened?" Asuna asked with surprise. "But… but we were running drills through the dungeons and collecting info on the bosses just yesterday."

"It would appear that we were in the wrong dungeon," the commander told her with a sigh. "Another player cleared the real dungeon late last night… but something tells me that both this event and your apparent annoyance lie with the same person."

"I'd be surprised if it didn't," the second-in-command sighed.

"Which begs the question, what's your issue our Reaper?"

"Well…" Asuna began hesitantly before explaining the situation to her superior.

"I see… Well you have my permission to take this as an off day then," he agreed.

"Are you sure? If floor twelve was just opened won't you need me a part of the vanguard?" she questioned. Even if she felt like she needed to give Ragna a stern talking to, clearing the game still took top priority.

"Normally, but thanks to yesterday I think we'll have a competent substitute," Heathcliff told her, thinking back to Freya, their new third-in-command that Ragna had personally trained. "Go and spend your time with him, I'm sure we'll be able to handle whatever awaits us on the next floor."

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Asuna said before she took the teleport crystal and headed back to the town that Silica was in. Heathcliff moved to organize the troops, before he was struck by a moment of inspiration.

"Perhaps I could use this to claim Ragna the Bloodedge as an ally… I'd have to find a suitable bargaining chip for him, but perhaps if I…" A strategy then continued to form inside the Commander's mind. He knew that he'd have to pull a few strings… but that was of no issue to someone like him. Heathcliff smirked as he approached his newly acquired Third-In-Command. "Freya, I'm going out; you're to be in charge of our Vanguard today."

"Are you sure sir?" Freya asked. "I-It's only only my first day in the guild."

"True, but people have been hoping to see a little of the legendary warrior that took down the trail boss almost entirely by herself. Give them a good show, won't you? This could be excellent for our moral," Heathcliff told her with a warm smile.

"I'll be sure to," Freya told him as Heathcliff nodded before excusing himself. "Um… Should I organize your personal guard to take with you?"

"That won't be necessary," he assured her with something of a dark and cocky complexion that she couldn't see, an expression no one had seen on him before. "I'm merely stepping out for a bit of fun."

 _ **Later -Floor Nine-**_

"This seems like a bit much," Argo told Ragna as the group headed for the town's gate to the fields. "You sure that floor nine's the best place to train up yer fox? Most of th' enemies here can kill it with one solid hit."

"And I can do the same to them," Ragna reminded her, clearly unimpressed. "Look, this is going to be the easiest way to get her XP. We go somewhere with too weak of an opponent and we'll have to spend all day level grinding. This is keeping it easy, but also presents enough of a reward to be worth it."

"If that's what yer gonna call it," Argo said as the two headed out the gate. "Well let's get started, I'm lookin' forward to seeing what kind of unlocks and abilities you fox is gonna show us."

"Ragnaaaaaa!" a familiar voice called out Ragna had barely turned before Silica slammed into him with a massive hug. The Reaper gave a small grunt as he glanced down out his youngest guild member and the dragon following close behind her. Glancing up he saw that, Asuna and Lisbeth were following close behind.

"What the heck? Why are the three of you following us?" Ragna demanded before glancing down at Silica. "And what's with the new armor?"

"I just was able to make a couple of quick changes to it," she told him as she let go of him so he could see her actually changes. Her earlier white breastplate had been changed to a midnight black while her clothing had been changed to crimson red that almost exactly matched his coats shade. In short…

"So you're flying my colors now?" Ragna questioned. "Well that's… nice." He was pretty awkward and unsure of what else to say. He then looked at Liz and Asuna and knew he was in trouble. "Alright I'll bite, why am I getting glared at today?"

"Because you never tell us anything," Lisbeth said. "Even though you're supposed to be our guild leader and there aren't supposed to keep any secrets from us, it always turns out that you're hiding something."

' _You don't know the half of it,_ ' Ragna thought somewhat sadly. "So what? I cleared a floor last night because I couldn't sleep, big deal. You should've been expecting this from me."

"Yeah, but you never told us it was your birthday today?" Asuna told him, and it was only then that the Reaper became nervous.

"Wait, it is?" Argo asked as she looked at the guild leader. "I mean I haven't read my notifications today, but seriously?"

"...I never really liked to celebrate my birthday," he told them honestly. "C'mon, just give me a break on this one. It's not worth it."

"Oh course it's worth it!" Asuna shouted before sighing. "Come on you've done a lot for us, give us a chance to pay you back..." Ragna didn't say anything, he just remained silent as Kit sat next to her owner. "Alright, I'll let you go today…" She began grabbing out their teleport crystals to head to a different floor.

"Wait," Ragna said with slight annoyance at himself as he caved in far too easily. "I… I guess I could use some extra support where we're headed… I mean I'm going to try to level my fox from level one," he said as he glanced down to Kitsune.

"So…" Liz began, keeping her hand on her crystal.

"...So if you want to tag along I ain't gonna object," Ragna finally told them, leading the three to give a bright smile and Pina to chirp happily as he sent them the invite and they formed one large party. "Dammit… I'm _way_ too soft on the lot of you."

"Well you make it easy for us," Liz told him cheerfully as the group started heading off into the woods. "By the way, does anyone else remember what today is?"

"Oh right!" Silica remembered becoming excited. "March 3rd is also _Hinamatsuri_!"

"Hinama-what?" Ragna asked, never having had celebrated something like that back in his own world. "What the hell's that supposed to be?"

"You've never celebrated it? It's sometimes called _Girl's day_. People use it to pray for the health and fortune of young girls and parents use it as a day to honor daughters," Asuna informed him.

"Okay… And you're telling me about this why exactly?" the Reaper again had to question. He then noticed _all_ of the girls looking up at him with a teasing innocence in their eyes and immediately got a sinking feeling. " _ **Oh hell no!**_ I'm not nearly that old!"

"So yer tellin' us," Argo said mockingly, leaving Ragna to glare at her. "C'mon, how old are ya turin'? Is it a big one?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he told her harshly as he refused to answer. "Seriously…"

"He can't be that old," Silica started to the rest of the girls, being the only one to defend Ragna. "I mean… it's not like he's turning 30 or anything."

"30 is old!?" Ragna shouted in disbelief, worrying the girls. "Damn, that's… that's not what I wanted to hear…"

"So… you're…" Asuna began with fright, worried that the man that she'd been spending so much time with and _may_ have started to develop feeling for would be over a decade older than her.

"No, still a while off," the Reaper assured her before sighing. "I just don't like the thought of becoming an old man."

"What's the big deal?" Argo asked looking up at Ragna. "You're hair's naturally that color ain't it? You're not going to need to worry about it goin' grey."

"What, meaning you can stress me out all you want?" Ragna grumbled leaving the others to giggle. That was when they heard a slight rustling coming from the bushes.

 _ **(Cue Person 4 Arena**_ _Reach out to the Truth_ **Extended)**

Emerging from the background was a large cluster of Gnolls armed with a broadsword, a sword and shield mix, throwing knives, or a crossbow. Ragna looked down behind him at _Bloodscythe_ then the girls around him and gave a shrug as he held his blade up and let it dissolve into black flames. The girls stared in shock at this display as the sword disappeared right before a large cross shaped ice pillar appeared out of the ground. Ragna then forced his hand straight through the ice pillar and grab _Yukianesa_ out for the second time that day.

"I-Is that a new weapon?" Liz asked as she brought out her mace and everyone else armed themselves. "Wh-where did you pick it up?"

"Special event," Ragna told her with a cocky smirk as he unsheathed the blade, letting a small cloud of cool mist spread amongst the area.. "Remember, make sure that none of them get close to Kit."

"But wait! What happened to your-!?"

Lisbeth's words fell upon deaf ears as Ragna's sheath glowed bright green due to a sword skill. Lunging forward, he impaled it through one of the gnolls before rushing and charging into countless others, impaling them through in a straight line. Ripping his sheath out, Ragna then performed a massive spinning slash and cut through countless more of the beasts.

Getting over her shock, Asuna sailed forward with her Rapier and impaled a gnoll through the throat and caused the creature to shatter. One of the beasts behind it came for a counter attack, but Lisbeth intercepted the opponent and countered by slamming it back with her mace blasted it into a group of them and knocked the lot of them over. Asuna then rushed forward and stabbed at the collection countless times, causing many of them to immediately shatter.

Argo went for a more direct approach and used a massive swing of her claw on one of the shield users. The gnoll managed to block the attack, but Argo then followed up by stabbing her claw into its chest. Beside her Silica managed to dodge arrows sent by a few of their archers with relative ease. Kitsune then gave a fox call giving the young dragon tamer a decent boost to her speed and agility. Silica then managed to close in on the monsters and delivered a powerful barrage of stabs, slaying them where they stood.

A group of knife throwers sent their projectiles at Ragna, but the Reaper easily knocked them away with his sheath. Using his _Spiral Blade_ skill, he threw his caused it soar around the battlefield and cut down several knolls in a single swift motion. Using his katana's sheath, he smacked into one of the gnoll's and used it to vault himself into the air and catch his weapon. He then unleashed a powerful _**Permafrost**_ slash and destroyed several more.

Sticking with her rushdown plan, Lisbeth barreled forward and swung her mace at the enemy in a series of swing due via use of a skill. A few of the monsters shattered upon the first few swings, but the others proved to be more difficult. Asuna then stepped in a dash through the knolls and destroyed those left barely alive by her friend. Asuna then charged one of the remaining shield users who stood ready for an attack from the front. Using her great agility, _Lightning Flash_ managed to circle behind the monster and stabbed it in the back to deal the finishing blow.

Argo and Silica then charged another few standing side by side to each other as they did so. Using a throwing weapon, Argo used a skill and weakened her opponent before cleaving her opponent from head to foot. A second gnoll readied its skill to attack Silica, but her tiny dragon managed to charge into the creature's snout and sent it off balance so that its owner could confirm a powerful stab to the creature's chest.

Upon landing Ragna noticed that he was surrounded in a strange light orange glow as his fox continued to yip from nearby him. Figuring it was some form of a stat booster, Ragna simply rushed forward to one of the gnoll's and cut it through in one swift motion. His body didn't feel at all faster, nor did his weapon seem any light, but he did seem to cut through the gnoll with less resistance… meaning it felt like he was cutting through less than air.

' _Argo wasn't kidding, I don't feel much of a boost at all,_ ' Ragna thought to himself with a sigh before focusing his attention on the last of the monsters. He sheathed his katana as the remaining gnolls approached him. He kept his hand on his weapon's hilt and waited until they were right on top of him. **"** _ **SNOW STORM!**_ **"**

While Ragna knew he was far from a slow warrior, the state he was in as he activated the attack was of a greater speed than he had anticipated. With his enhanced sense of time he cut through all the stood before him countless times in the blink of an eye. Sensing that there were monsters behind these that he'd not yet damaged, Ragna activated the follow up using the _Frost Gauge_ and seemingly fazed through the monsters, causing the last of the threat to finally shatter.

 **(End Theme)**

"That wasn't too hard," Ragna muttered to himself as he rested _Yukianesa_ on his shoulder. He then glanced at the girls who were looking at him strangely. "What?"

"Those attacks you were using," Asuna began. "I've never seen them before… How did you get them?"

"...Not a clue, just looks like this sword's one of a kind," Ragna told her truthfully. "I already got in some practice with it, so it looks like I can do powerful tricks with it at least."

"Well what about your hair?" Lizbeth asked him. "And your eyes?"

"My… hair?" Ragna asked with clear confusion. Reach up he grabbed a clump of his hair and brought it before his eyes, gasping at what he saw. His hair had changed color from his iconic gray and turn… blonde, like he'd had it back in his childhood. The Reaper then gave a small gulp. "And my eye… anything happen to it?"

"The red one that you used ta have is green now," Argo told him confirming Ragna's fears. Unnerved by the sudden change, the Reaper then let his katana fade from his hand, turning into a collection of ice crystal that then vanished. "And now yer back to normal… weird."

"Weird and a problem," Asuna told him. "You've been able to get away with your exclusive abilities so far, but if anyone else finds out of the additional skills that you can use thanks to this new weapon they're not going to be trusting you as much. Soon everyone's going to doubt that you're a legitimate player."

"What's it matter to them? I'm trying to clear this damn game so we can get out of here for crying out loud," Ragna muttered. "They should be happy that they have less fighting to do, I'm not even asking for anything in return."

"Well people can still get worried," Argo told him. "What happ'ns if you snap and end up makin' demands in exchange for finishin' the game? Good intentions or not, players could start to turn on ya."

"So you're saying I shouldn't use my new sword then?" the Reaper questioned as he groaned and looked through the results screen of the fight. "Fricken' great."

"...Actually, think I might have 'n out for ya," Argo told him as she peered at Ragna's result screen. "You got any _Small Gnoll teeth_?"

"Yeah, I picked two up from that fight, pretty sure I've got some more in my inventory," Ragna told her. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Got a bit of business proposition for ya, boss," Argo told him. "Couple of people from the lower floors are havin' trouble and with the problems _Dark Shield's_ been facin' recently, they can't get much support. Some don't have the levels or col to make it higher floors, others are lackin' teammates, and some just can't get the drops they need. I've been gettin' a few requests now and then askin' for items on the higher floor so they can smith better equipment. They can't offer much in payment, but this could let you use yer new sword without much trouble if it's for a good cause."

"That could work, might even net a few allies for our guild," Ragna thought aloud. "Alright, we might as well give it a shot. It's not like we've got anything else to do." Ragna then closed the results screen and opened his own menu and looked through his inventory as Argo looked through her own menu. "Okay, so we got six _Small Gnoll's Teeth_ in total, how many are we going to need to complete the order?"

"Ten more," Argo told him. "We're also gonna need materials from other parts of this floor two so it looks like this might be an all day thing. Don't worry though,this is one of the larger orders which we're here to help ya with."

"So this is gonna be an all day thing," Ragna summarized.

"Don't act so disappointed," Asuna said to him with a knowing smirk. "Everyone knows you feel most at home when you're in combat. You're not fooling anyone but yourself."

"You almost make me sound like the _Mad Dog_ ," the Reaper grumbled.

"The… the who?" Argo asked, with very confused complexion. "Never 'eard of anyone called that before in the game"

"I-It's someone I used to know in the real world," Ragna told her, realizing too late that he'd misspoken. Remembering the fight's he and his old enemy had participated in his complexion darkened. "...Someone I knew a lifetime ago."

"...I thought you were trying to say you didn't want to feel old," Lisbeth noted, effectively ruining to mood and earning a harsh glare from her guild leader.

 _ **Later that Evening -Floor Nine Gate-**_

Ragna let out a breath of relief as he and the girls made their way back to the edge of the city. As expected, hunting for monsters had taken the rest of the day as the sun had just finished setting over the distant hills. The day hadn't been all that bad, most of the time was spent in combat, but they'd also eaten some of Asuna's cooking for lunch since they'd been out for so long. Kitsune seemed to like the other well enough and they'd often pet the little creature behind its ears. It hadn't increased very far in levels or abilities, but it still gave Ragna a slight boost to his abilities in combat.

"So you're sure that's everything?" Ragna asked as he looked over the list that Argo had sent him. "We didn't miss anything?"

"Nope, that's going to be everything," Argo told him as she looked through the messaging. "Anyways, the group should be at the first inn down that road. Their guild name is th' _Moonlit Black Cats_."

"Them?" Ragna asked as he thought back. "I ran into them a while back; I think they wanted to congratulate me for…" He stopped that train of thought as he fought to keep the raising blush on his face from exposing himself. "Anyways, I'll be sure to deliver the goods."

"After that Heathcliff says that he wants a word with you," Asuna told him as she looked over her own messages. "He's actually in this town on the south side so go find him there."

"Fine, I'll see what the hell he wants," Ragna muttered as he went into the menu and disbanded his party. "Thanks for your help today guys, made the job easier on me at least."

"Happy to help!" Silca told him with a cheery shout before looking a bit disappointed with herself. "I'm just sorry none of us got a gift for you."

"I'm not a materialistic guy and there's nothing that I'd really have wanted," the Reaper told her before chuckling. "Sides, spending the day with you lot with gift en-uhh!" He'd let out a grunt as his youngest member again tackled him with a large hug, something that was happening more frequently between the two. Giving a small smirk at her behavior he returned the hug.

"I'll be sure to see you later Ragna!" Silica called as she ended the hug and ran off into the city with her dragon following closely behind.

"I guess I should be heading back as well," Asuna told him. "I still need to check in with the guild and see what the situation on floor twelve is. Try not to keep the commander waiting for very long, alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to see him first chance I get," Ragna promised before sighing. "Jeeze, ever since you joined Heathcliff's guild you're always all work and no play. You should learn to take a break every now and then _Lightning Flash_."

"...Maybe we can try to see each other of the battlefields more often," Asuna offered leaving the Reaper at a loss for words. "We're friends aren't we?"

"...Yeah, I guess we are," he had to agree. "Take care of yourself…" The second-in-command of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ nodded before she took out her crystal and headed for her guild's main base. That left Ragna with Lisbeth and Argo. "Good luck with the business, go ahead and send me any other requests you've got. I'll see which of them I can take care of."

"Yeah, just let me know when you've got enough materials for your next upgrade and I'll handle the rest!" Lisbeth told him with great confidence. "Trust me, with yours truly looking after your gear no one will be able to touch you."

"Figured you'd say something like that," he chuckled before looking down to Argo. "Well take care of yourself… Rat," was his snarky goodbye.

"Oh I'll be sure ta see you soon… Raggy-Bear," Argo said to Ragna with a new pet name, immediately causing his face to light up as his infobroker and blacksmith laughed at him.

" _ **ARGO!"**_ Ragna shouted at his infobroker snickered. "Seriously, do you actually get off on teasing me or does it just-?"

Argo then reached up and grabbed Ragna by his collar before pulling him down and interrupted him mid sentence. Her guild leader wasn't able to say anything as his infobroker puckered her lips and deliver a quick kiss to his right cheek. It didn't last particularly long (nor was it really all that intimate), but Lizbeth was frozen solid at the sight.

"Wh-what was that for?" Ragna demanded as he glanced down to his cheek, which luckily didn't have a mark on it.

"No one else was willing to do it, so thought I'd give ya a birthday gift," Argo told him with a mischievous smile.

"No one NEEDED to do it!" Ragna shouted angrily before looking around nervously to make sure that no one had seen her do it. Save for the still frozen Lisbeth, it appeared that Argo's actions and his outburst at them had gone largely unnoticed. "No one hears about this… or else," he threatened them both darkly as he headed into town, Kitsune following closely behind.

"Did… did you really need to...?" Lisbeth asked finally getting her voice back.

"What? Did you want to give him a kiss instead?" the infobroker asked with a laugh. The blacksmith was wise enough to know this was an argument she couldn't win and decided to stay silent.

Ragna made his way down the street until he'd made his way to the inn where he was supposed to meet the _Moonlit Black Cats_. Opening the door to the restaurant on the lower floor, a few people raised their head and was able to determine who he was. He sent a harsh glare their way that basically told them _don't screw with me_. Glancing around the several tables, he found the group that he'd met a while back and headed over.

"Got your order for you," he told them bluntly as he approached the table and leaving the player to glance up at him in surprise. "You sent Argo the order didn't you? I don't have the wrong group?"

"N-no, you've got us," the one in the beanie cap top him. "We're just kind of surprised that you're the one that went and got us the supplies… or than anyone even cared about us enough to get us the materials."

"Just figured I'd lend a hand," the Reaper explained as he opened his menu and readied an item transfer. "So what happened? Last time I saw you I heard you were getting info from Argo to pull you through to the front."

"Well, we… we started falling behind," the member in darker armor told him. "We managed to keep up for a while, but these monsters are getting tougher for us to kill and we just couldn't get any drops. We thought we'd try sourcing it out to ask someone help and we told Argo about our problem. Guess she passed it along to you then."

"That's more or less how it happened," Ragna admitted as he transferred the selected materials over. "That should do it."

"Thank you so much," the dark haired girl told him with a happy yet nervous smile. She and the other's gathered around the list and noticed something out of place. "Oh… uh… you gave us something, extra… the last thing you sent wasn't part of our order."

"Really? Cause Argo told me that you needed that to make-" Ragna began before he made sense of it. His infobroker had most likely included this piece because she'd thought that this group had forgotten a piece of their recipe. "...Keep it; it's not like it's going to do me any good."

"I-If you're sure," the young girl nervously told him. She then noticed that Ragna was turning to head out of the building. "H-Hold on, what about your payment?"

"If you really want to pay me back, make sure you put the gear you make out of that to good use," the Reaper told them bluntly as he left the restaurant, several of the patrons whispering amongst themselves at his display.

Not really caring for whatever social standing he might've just brought upon himself, Ragna started heading for the south side of town. He was surprised to discover that this end of town seemed to be the residential district, not exactly an expected meeting point for the leader of SAO's top guild. Eventually though he found the guild leader, standing in front of one of the houses like he'd been expecting the Reaper.

"Alright I'll bite, what the hell is this?" Ragna asked as he crossed his arms.

"I heard that you've managed to clear the eleventh floor boss by yourself," Heathcliff told him. "I also heard that today just so happens to be your birthday."

"... A very reluctant yes to both," the Reaper begrudgingly admitted. "So what the hell did you want to meet me here for?" In response Heathcliff opened his menu and tapped a few buttons on the screen, leading Ragna to receive a notification that he'd been sent a ring of keys. "...You're joking."

"I'm not," the commander of the _Knights of the Blood Oath_ told him. "With the work you've managed to put into clearing this game I thought you might deserve something for all of your troubles… and I know that you've needed to sleep at whatever Inn's currently vacant."

"Searching for somewhere to stay isn't so bad, but how the hell did you manage to get the col to pay for this?" he questioned as he looked to his new property. "The only people that can afford these houses are the people that run the top guilds and even that's a huge expense. How the hell were you able to afford something like this?"

"I wasn't the only one that payed for this," Heathcliff told him truthfully. "I contacted Diable about my idea and he was only so happy to donate… there was another guild that donated a large sum as well, I believe they were called the _Fuurinkazan_ … As a side not, their leader wanted me to tell you it's _I want you to be happy_ day."

' _I was born on a holiday like that? Me? That bites? Wonder how Klein found out about this though…_ ' Ragna thought to himself. "That's still a lot of money from the three of you."

"...This house also happened to go on sale as sort of a promotion," Heathcliff told him. "The houses will be getting much more expensive the more levels we manage to clear, but this one had it's price cut by more than half at the time I bought it… Almost like fate."

"Jeeze, how the hell'd you find a discount like that when I always hit with expensive restaurant bills?" the Reaper muttered as he accepted the gift. He took the keys in his hand and examined them for a moment before glancing back to Heathcliff. "So… what is it that you want from me?"

"Can't I simply give you a gift to celebrate a birthday?" the commander questioned.

"You've never done this for anyone else," Ragna accused him with a glare. "So what is it that you want from me?"

"...I suppose a chance for the two of us to fight alongside one another would be nice," the commander told him. "My guild has been rather strict on my safety and security as of late, but perhaps the two of us would make a suitable duo on the front lines soon."

"The _Grim Reaper_ and the _Blood Oath Commander_ on the same team? Add Diable to the mix and we'd be the Alliance's worst nightmare," Ragna had to agree. "What the hell? I don't exactly lead a tight schedule so we might as well give it a shot."

"Excellent, I'll contact you soon and we'll attempt to find a day to move forward on our plan," Heathcliff told him before glancing down at the fox. "A little late to ask, but where did you get that fox companion?"

"Got it on floor eleven after I managed to kill the boss there," he explained. "Heard that these things aren't too useful, but I might as well keep it around."

"I see…" Heathcliff said, his expression telling he was keeping something to himself. "Until next time then." Before Ragna could respond, Heathcliff took his teleportation crystal out of his pocket and left for his guild's headquarters.

"What's his story?" Ragna muttered aloud before glancing one more to the keychain in his hand. "Might as well check this place out and get some sleep."

Entering the house Ragna could clearly see that his new home was spacious enough, but that might've been for a lack of any real furniture. There was a decently lounge when you first walked in that lead to the kitchen. Looking through the cupboards and pantry, Ragna saw that he was missing any dishes, silverware, or even food to use them on. There was a stairway in the back that lead both to the second floor and to the basement. Checking the basement first, Ragna saw that it was spacious enough and could actually make a decent smith shop with some work.

Ragna then checked upstairs and the floor seemed as plain as the rest of the house. There was a bathroom (really only good for taking a bath) and two smaller bedrooms into his right which were stocked with a storage chest and a twin sized bed each. There was also a larger master bedroom with its own chest and a king sized bed.

"Looks like I'm going to have to decorate," Ragna thought to himself with a sigh as he threw himself on the bed. "And if Argo and the other's find out about this place and the extra rooms I've got they're going to want to crash with me… Talk about a pain…"

Kitsune didn't waste much time before leaping up onto the large bed itself. Ragna figured that the creature could go wherever it had wanted to, but for whatever reason it chose to sleep upon his chest once more. Giving a whimsical sigh, Ragna stroked his new pet's sleek body.

"Looks like we're roomies for now…"

 _ **Author's Note: Don't own any of the selected music or the series.**_

 _ **So… looks like ArcSystems has been busy as of late. Lot of announcements, lot of new releases… WHO NEEDS FOOD TO LIVE!? TAKE MY MONEY!**_

 _ **In all seriousness, I'm looking forward what's to come BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle looks like it could be a fun Tag Team fighter (hence the music selection for this chapter). And we've finally got Jubei coming our way (everyone still wants the dub, myself included).**_

 _ **Side note, I've started a walkthrough of SAO: Hollow Realization one my YouTube channel. Come check it out if you want more SAO related content (I was requested to model the character avatar after Ragna).**_

 _ **Anyways here's the Omake, kind of a shorter one this time. Ciao!**_

 _The Ultimate Sport_

 _Floor 50_

"Are they for real?" a front line tanker asked as he looked over the notice board around the arena. "Who the hell thinks that they can actually handle 100 waves of monsters even as a team of four?"

"The game's supposed to play a differently," a two-handed sword user told him. "Once you get into the arena you fight until you die or selected end challenge after a fight. After that they move onto the next team signed up until all of the rounds are cleared. The team that clears the last round gets the mystery prize, but there's no telling what it is…"

"...And you can't use any healing items either; all you're stuck with is your battle healing and any other passive skills you can use," a female knife user noted. "So who's going first?"

"That's the problem, with the way this is looking everyone is going to wait for someone else to take the first shot and see what we're dealing with," the first member said as the crowd around the arena's entrance muttered to themselves. "All we can do is wait for some idiot to-"

"Weaklings…"

Several players were roughly shoved aside as an enigmatic man stand at two meters tall walking to the front of the large crowd. A screen emerged asking the player if he'd like to take the challenge and in return the man harshly slammed this fist down, opening the entrance to the arena.

"Why don't all of you take a seat?" he suggested cockily without turning to face them. "The lot of you might even learn something." The entrance then closed, blocking off the remaining teams from entering.

"Who does that guy think he is?" one of the players said with disdain. "Does that idiot think he can take on the entire challenge by himself?"

"He's probably a damned _Beater_!" an angry individual from the mob shouted. "Let's go; I want to watch that guy get knocked down a peg!" Several of the players agreed and soon a majority of them begun piling into the coliseum seats. The cerulean haired giant stood at the center and waited for the challenge to begin. He didn't have to wait long as a collection of six skeleton warriors emerged

"Those monsters are from a few floors down!" one of the players called as the lead skeleton immediately took charge at the giant. "You idiot! Draw your weapon if you're going to try and-!"

With a single powerful swing of his arm, the enigma clotheslined the skeleton and sent it spiralling into the rest of its team. The force was so powerful that entire collection of skeleton was forced off their feet and sent flying into the coliseum wall where all of them shattered upon contact.

"Th-that was one hit!" one of the players who had commented before gasped. "And I didn't even see him use a skill!"

"COME ON! ENTERTAIN ME!" Azrael shouted to the sky in a berserk challenge as the rest of the monsters were summoned to the arena. "DON'T TELL ME THIS IS ALL YOU'VE GOT!" This time a single golem type monster was brought to the playing field. It tried to crush the _Mad Dog_ under its massive fists, but Azrael leapt up into the air with a powerful knee strike and sent the monster off balance. He then dove down right on top of it with a glowing fist that immediately broke the creature into pieces. "THIS! THIS IS THE ENDLESS EXCITEMENT YOU PROMISED ME!? BRING OUT THE REAL MONSTERS!"

As the countless waves of monsters continued to pour into the arena and the man at the center defeated them without difficulty as his aggression only grew further. The players watching were somewhat relieved that they had such a capable fighter to help them escape the game… whilst shitting themselves, terrified that someone this bloodthirsty actually existed.


	19. Graceless

_**Blade XVIII: Graceless**_

"So what did you want to talk to us about?" Lisbeth asked as she applied a touch of cream spread on her piece of toast. She along with Argo, Silica, and Agil, were sitting in the empty restaurant on floor four that Ragna had eaten at yesterday via an invitation. The Reaper had been hesitant to do it, but he decided that he'd invite them out for breakfast to share the new developments. His fox Shiori (changed the name, still open to discussion though) sat on the ground and ate its own offered food.

"It's odd for ya ta ever invite us anywhere," Argo told him. "Normally we had to drag by the arm ta do anything not combat related."

"Yeah, yeah, keep saying that," Ragna muttered as he took a long sip of coffee out of his mug. "So... long story short; Heathcliff found out that it was my birthday yesterday and he sent a... gift my way."

"Birthday? Oh that's right... I think I might've gotten a message about that yesterday," Agil remembered before shaking his head. "Already had plans though, plus I figured you'd try to make plans with _your_ girls."

"Sorry, _my_ girls? What the hell's that supposed to mean!?" Ragna demanded with a harsh scowl as Lisbeth and Silica blushed slightly while Argo gave him an evil smirk.

"Am I wrong though?" Agil asked with a small chuckle.

"Sort of; Asuna had to march up to him and sort of force him to take us along," Liz admitted. "Then again... he caved in pretty quick."

"Ha! Figures!" Agil shouted with a laugh. "You never could say no where they're involved!"

"Shut up," he growled while the axe user continued to laugh. "Anyways turns out Heathcliff had some cash to spare and ended up getting me a whole friggen' house." Ragna's table then turned deadly quiet. "Well that was enough to shut you up..."

"A-A house?" Silica asked with shock. "How big is it?"

"Pretty damn big; couple of bedrooms, a bathroom, basement downstairs," Ragna explained. "It's even on floor Nine, and I guess that the town there's become something of a hub for lower leveled players."

"Lucky..." Argo mumbled. "I sometimes get little gifts from my customers, but I'd never get anything like this..."

"Don't sound so melodramatic, I'm telling you about this so you all can move in and have a permanent place to stay," Ragna told them, earning several blank stares. "What? You don't think I'd hog a huge place like this all to myself did you?"

"You mean we're all invited to live with you?" Lisbeth questioned for everyone, the blush on her face leaving Ragna to chuckle. "H-Hey, I was just asking alright?"

"Yeah, but if you start causing problems I'm gonna start charging rent," Ragna promised with a joking smile. "So, is everyone in?"

"Pina and I are in!" Silica said happily and her dragon cawed in agreement.

"Got lonely without me Raggy-Bear?" Argo teased leaving Ragna to groan. "Ya know I'm kiddin', count me in!"

"Me as well!" Lisbeth chimed in. "If your place has a basement I might be able to rework into a decent blacksmith shop for all of our gear!"

"I'm out," Agil said bluntly.

"Good so we're all agreed that- Agil?" Ragna questioned as he turned his head. "Why the hell are you backing out of this?"

"Moving into a house with you and several other girls seems a bit... off, don't want to have to explain that to my wife back home," he told them leaving Ragna to realize that Agil was a married man. "Even the animals are girls; it'd be a house dominated with estrogen."

"But then that makes me the only guy there!" Ragna shouted. "What do you call that!?"

"In most societies, a harem," Agil informed.

"LIKE HELL!" Ragna shouted as he violently slammed his hands on the table (causing an I _mmortal Object_ sign to appear) and raising angrily. The girls around the two looked at each other with the concern and it appeared that even the NPC waitresses were now listening in.

"Jeeze, calm down," Agil told him with a sigh. "I've already got my own shop in tent town that I'm renting out, I'll be fine there."

"If that's what suits you," Ragna mumbled to himself as he slowly sank back into his seat.

"It is," the Axe user told him. "Anyways, I need to be going soon. I promised Klein I'd help his guild check the new floor out today."

"Then let's finish up eating here so you can do your thing and the rest of us can head back to floor nine and start working on the place," the leader suggested as he resumed eating.

"Speakin' a' work, I got some good news!" Argo told the rest of them with an eager smile. "Ever since we took care of that request yesterday, we've had a flood of requests coming in for us to help out the others players!"

"Wait, seriously, requests just started coming in like that?" Liz asked.

"Yep!" Argo said deviously. "And the best part is they leave the rewards section blank, meaning we can batter with 'em once the job is finally is done."

 _'Rewards section?_ ' Ragna questioned in his mind before he thought back to the night previous. ' _Oh no..._ ' "Uh... Argo? Are you sure they think there's a reward for us?"

"They better, we're not workin' for free," Argo told him. "Speakin' of which, you got the reward from the job yesterday? Right?" No response. "Ragna..."

"I, er... I sorta... just told them... to do their best in catching up and helping on the front lines."

The entire restaurant was silent (not too difficult considering they were the only group there) while the members looked from the guilty faced Reaper to his expressionless info broker 'fiancee.' They then backed up a reasonable distance right before-

"YOU IDIOT!" Argo shouted as she stood up with rage, flipping the table upwards and sending it flying with the food towards Ragna.

' _Dammit,_ ' was Ragna's last thought before the table as food slammed into him and knocked him from his chair. The rest of his guild stared down at their leader, now buried under the table and their half-eaten food before the latter shattered. Argo took her seat and moodily crossed her arms and repeated the word 'baka' under her breath.

' _Too bad that didn't kill me..._ ' Ragna thought as he removed the table from off of him. He gave a small sigh as he effortlessly threw the table off of him and into the air, causing it to land on the floor with perfect precision. He didn't get up, only continuing to lay there with self contempt and stare up at the ceiling, ignoring the concerned looks of his fellow guild mates. "Check please."

 _Soon after -Floor Nine-_

"So that's what I found in the place," Ragna told the three girls as he finished giving them the tour. Agil had gone off on his own to see Klein about the new floor and telling Ragna to survive whatever he was about to go through. Argo still seemed cross at the Reaper for spreading the wrong message, but in his eyes she'd still cooled down considerably. "What do the lot of you think?"

"This place is awesome!" Silica said happily as she looked around. "Mostly I've had to keep reserving rooms inside of Inns, but now Pina and I will finally have a place to stay."

"Gotta say, yer getting' pretty close to redeeming yerself from the blunder you just pulled," Argo told him before giving Ragna a mischievous smirk. " _Pretty close."_

 _'Gods above in heaven or below in hell, save me,'_ Ragna thought to himself sadly. "And you Liz?"

"If I take some of the stuff out of my shop on the lower floor and bring it up here I might be able to get a blacksmith shop going as well as set up a front desk in the foyer. Of course it would be better if we could find some nicer furniture to make us seem a little more official."

"A front desk?" Ragna questioned. "What do we need that for?"

"So we can keep gettin' those requests dummy," his info broker explained. "More people will be coming to us if we have a physical place to meet 'em instead of having to resort to instant messaging. Get it?"

"Got it, got it," Ragna sighed. "Still means we'll have to be letting strangers into our house."

"Not exactly," Liz told him with a smirk. "All we need to do is set up some doorways with special locks and we'll be able to keep the foray open during business hours while closing off the rest of the house for our own use. Even better is that this way they'll still be able to get to the lower floors and get to my new Blacksmith shop."

"Sounds like you have this all have this planned out then," the Reaper noted. "Now all we need to do is worry about getting food for the pantry and... does anyone here know how to do in-game cooking?"

"Um... No," Silica admitted. "I've always just gone out and bought food from the inns... Can't we just keep doing that?"

"We could, but it costs less jes buyin' ingredients and cooking yerself," Argo told the group before looking to Ragna and smirking. "'Course, he just doesn't want to have to pay for every meal."

"I have enough reason to want that," Ragna countered with a roll of his heterochromia eyes. "Problem is I'd have to ask lessons from someone that knows how to cook, and Asuna's probably busy with her guild on Floor 12."

"There are probably some in-game books hidden around in cooking," Argo told him. "Most of 'em aren't too hard to find and some actually boost your skill just by reading the them. You could probably try lookin' for a few of those... 'cept they're supposed to be pretty rare and the resale value is always high."

"So that's out for now," Ragna admitted as he tried thinking back. "...Maybe Sasha can help."

"Sasha?" Liz repeated aloud as the name didn't sound familiar to her. "Who's that?"

"Someone I met back on Floor One a while ago," he explained as he thought back. "She's taking care of the kids who got trapped in this death game by giving them a place to stay and trying to keep them safe from the jerks that try to push them around. If she's been taking care of them this whole time, something tells me she'd probably have had to develop some cooking skills... I've been meaning to go back and check on her for a while now anyways."

"Then you go and check with them, we'll handle the set up here," Silica promised. "Trust us, this is going to be an all day thing for us, you don't have anything to worry about."

"...Alright, message me if you run into trouble," Ragna told them as he deposited a large sum of Col to Argo's account along with the extra house keys before he started heading out the door, only stopping to snap his fingers. "Shiori, we're leaving." His pet fox then rose from the chair it'd been resting on and ran up to Ragna, following him closely behind as the two exited the house and closed the door behind him.

"Alright girls," Argo said with an eager smile on her face. "Let's go shopping."

 _Floor One: Town of Beginnings_

"Damn, this place is like a ghost town," Ragna thought aloud as he and Shiori walked through the empty streets of the large hub town. Not a player was in sight and there wasn't any noise coming from the many shops that aligned the path he was walking. "Guess everyone moved up to the higher floors to get closer to the front lines. Anyways the church should be around here somewhere..."

"Mister Ragna!" the Reaper heard a collection of younger voices shout, accompanied by a barrage of tiny footsteps. It was a group of kids from the orphanage that he'd watched before, as they approached they immediately took interest in the fox with him.

"You managed to get an animal helper?" one of the kids asked. "That's so cool!"

"What's its name? Can it breath fire from its mouth?"

"Kid, it's a fox; not a dragon," Ragna told him with an amused smirk. "Anyways what are you kids doing out here? I thought Sasha was supposed to be watching you."

"I am watching them," came Sasha's voice as she soon followed from where the direction the kids had approached from. She looked about the same as she'd ever been, dressed in her usual nun attire that reminded Ragna of the matron, aside from her glasses. She didn't seem to be upset with the children, the small smile on her face telling of that much. "They just happened to run off when they caught sight of you. Something tells me they've missed you."

"Kind of rare for anyone to miss me," Ragna told her with a smirk as the kids petted Shiori and stroked her body. "So how have things been?"

"They've been... alright I suppose," Sasha admitted. "We almost had an incident a few days ago, but we managed to get through it without losing anyone."

"An incident?" Ragna repeated, his eyes slowly narrowing. He'd been afraid of this; so much time away from the orphanage would have left the more dickish players time to start targeting it in order to get some quick cash by extorting kids that couldn't defend themselves. "...Well, let's head to church for now. You can tell me what happened there."

"Certainly, I'm sure the rest of the children would be happy to see you," Sasha told him, seeming relieved that Ragna was there to help her.

Not long later, Ragna was seated at a table in the churches private study with Sasha sitting in front of him while the children played in the main hallway with Shiori. A fresh mug of warm tea was placed before the Reaper.

"So... what's the incident that happened?" Ragna ask as he decided to finally break the silence.

"Well, a few days ago I went out shopping when we surrounded by these players with orange marks above their heads," she told him as Ragna took a sip of his herbal tea. "I couldn't tell who they were because they wore cloaks, nor did it look like they belonged to a guild, but they threatened that they'd take the children outside the city and... end them if I didn't hand over every Col I had."

"Dammit, they were actually willing to go that far," Ragna growled. "And what, for a bit of in game currency that won't matter once they manage to get out of this hell hole."

"Apparently they thought that I was rich since I was able to afford the church and pay for the children's meals, but the truth is even that's been hard to maintain as of late. Money from the major guilds has been scarce as many of them have been trying to push for making progress for the higher floors as opposed to staying on the lower floor."

"Is that right?" Ragna asked with a sigh. "Well that's annoying. Even _Dark Shield_ hasn't been donating?"

"Diabel's been donating what money he can, but most of his guild is pushing him to keep moving forward in the vanguard... more so now that there were two floors cleared in this past day alone."

"Whoa, hold on. There were _TWO_ floors cleared yesterday?" Ragna asked. "When did that happen?"

"From the guild report that, I read it turned out that Floor Eleven had been cleared after midnight on Harimatsu. No one took credit for it, so dwq knew who to give credit to while others gave the credit to a solo player that had been known for clearing floors single-handedly before." Ragna decided not to comment. "The second floor was cleared by the _Knights of the Blood Oath_. Apparently one of their high ranking officers managed to find the boss room, assemble a raid party, and clear the floor boss in a single day. I've heard people are starting to call her _The Valkyrie._ "

' _That's probably Freya then,'_ Ragna thought to himself. ' _Good to hear that she's showing what she can do, but..._ ' "So, no donations then? How do you manage to provide for these kids then?"

"I've been trying to save money by cooking their meals instead of buying them, but it takes time," she admitted. "At the very least my cooking skill goes up quickly enough; even if I'm making the most basic meal you can make I still get experience to my skill with how much I need to make."

"Cooking's kind of the reason I finally managed to make my way down here," Ragna admitted before he shook his head. "But that can wait, first thing we need to figure out is to keep the kids from getting attacked... speaking of which, how did you get out of the situation the first time?"

"A lot of the kids said that they were friends with you," Sasha told him thinking back. "Even just saying the name Ragna caused the attackers to take a step back, they didn't seem to believe us at first, but after insisting for a few minutes and the children talking about the kind of person you are, the bandits claimed 'we weren't worth going after' and just left."

"Huh, no kidding," the Reaper muttered as he took another sip from his tea.

"Just who are you? I could tell you weren't the average player when you paid for this church, but I doubt you're one of those beaters that I've always heard those terrible stories about."

"I'm a mystery to everyone, myself included," Ragna admitted, acting more serious than playful on matter. "Change of subject though, I might have a way to help you keep this place safe." Sasha watched as Ragna opened his menu and entered a few key commands. After a moment a notice appeared in front of her inviting her to join his guild, _Rebellion._

"You want me to join your guild?" Sasha asked. "But... what would that accomplish?"

"It'd tell the assholes targeting you that you have close connections to me and that should frighten most of them off," Ragna told her. "Trust me, I've sort of made a reputation that I'm not a guy to mess with."

"I... I guess that would work," Sasha agreed as she accepted the offer on the screen. The _Rebellion_ symbol appeared next to her player name visibly that she was part of the guild. "Well, that's one problem fixed."

"Now to take care of your money problem," the Reaper told her as he thought back. "Unfortunately, I gave most of my Col to my guild mates for supplies since we're starting to decorate our new house, so I can't make much of a donation."

"That's not a problem, we shouldn't be going to you for money whenever we need some anyways. I'll just have to find another way to provide for the children. But that's going to be is going to be difficult; I can't let them out into the fields otherwise they'd be in danger."

"What if you hit the fields yourself?" Ragna suggested. "Maybe if I can find you some proper gear and get your level up today, you can farm on some lower levels yourself while the kids are safe in the church. That way you might stand a better chance at defending yourself in the streets while I'm not around."

"That could work, but..." Sasha began, he cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. "I'm only level 4. I've barely been in any combat and the last actual fight I was in was months ago."

"Which is why I'll tag along, give you a couple of pointers along the way," he explained. "The kids will be fine here for a few hours while we head off, they've got Shiori to keep 'em busy anyways." Ragna told her as he opened his inventory. "Let's see... I've got a ton of equipment that I've never bothered using, so it should still be in prime condition. And before you try to turn me down, let me inform you that my unused gear wouldn't be worth much in shops; this is the best direction for it to go. What kind of weapons and armor do you want?"

"Like I said, it's been so long you might as well give me whatever you think will work for the best," she told him. "Though I guess I'd prefer to remain able to guard the children rather than attack, if that helps."

"It does," Ragna said before looking over his gear. "Let's see... I can give you a sword and shield combo and some medium armor so that it won't slow you down much, but you'll be well protected all the same. Sound good?"

"Yes, I think that will work fine," Sasha told him, happy that he was willing to go to such lengths to help out the children. Ragna tapped the commands on his menu and sent over the best combination of the type that he had over to the caretaker along with some healing items and a few teleport crystals. "Are we ready to head out then?"

"I guess, but why aren't you getting into your armor now?" the Reaper questioned.

"I'd rather the children didn't see me prepared for battle in armor and carrying a weapon. I want them to lead lead a much more peaceful and protected life in the home I offer them, one where they don't have to constantly think of or see the ugly side of this game... That's at least what I like to think."

"...Heh, it's a kind way of thinking to be sure," Ragna agreed with a soft chuckle as he opened his menu and sent BloodScythe back to his inventory. "Don't ask me to give up my coat though, this is staying on no matter what."

"I don't mind, it's an excellent style for you, both the children and I think so," Sasha told him with a giggle. "A few of them even wanted to try and find similar coats so that they could dress up as you."

"Sorry, exclusive item," Ragna muttered as he opened the door to the study to see the kids running around and having fun with Shiori. "All right, time to get going."

"You're leaving already?" one of the kids as him, clear disappointment in her eyes.

"Won't be gone long, but yeah, Sasha and I need to head out and take care of a few things," Ragna told her.

"Are you two going on a date?" another child asked.

"Eh?" Sasha asked with a high pitched squeak, a faint blush forming on her face which was matched by Ragna's somewhat embarrassed expression. "Wha-What makes you say that?"

"My older sister is in college and she told me that adults go on dates all of the time," the second child explained.

"They do? Gross!" said a third child shouted with juvenile disgust. "...What's a date?"

"Where two adults go out and leave the us with a baby sitter I think," the kid with a college sister explained. "I think they're supposed to kiss."

"Ewww!" several kids called out in unison. Ragna groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"No, it's not a date; we're just going out to grab some supplies," Sasha tried to tell the kids, but none of them seemed to be listening as many now starting to sing 'Ragna and Miss Sasha, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g'.

 _'Now I'm glad I didn't call Klein to babysit,_ ' the Reaper thought to himself. "Can I count on all of you to behave while we step outside for a while? We're not going to be gone for long, just wait inside the church and play with Shiori. Don't open the door for anyone and we'll be back before you know it. Can you do that for me?"

"Okay!" the kids all shouted out at once. Ragna gave a smirk as he and Sasha headed outside.

"So... now the kids think we're dating," the caretaker told him, the blush on her face having faded only slightly.

"Well..." Ragna began before smirking somewhat playfully. "Two adults, heading out and leaving the kids to supervise themselves? I guess you could call it a date." The light bop to his head courtesy of Sasha's fists told him otherwise. "Guess you don't think so..."

"I don't," she insisted, leaving Ragna with little room for a follow up joke.

 _Meanwhile with the Girls_

"Man, why does furniture have to be so expensive?" Lisbeth groaned as she read the pop-up screen over the queen sized bed she'd been looking at. "Even with all of our money put together, plus the stuff Ragna gave us, there's barely enough to buy the beds we need... Are you sure this is the best place in the game to get a deal?"

"As of right now, yeah," Argo admitted as she looked over the desk in front of her. "Doesn't look like this is going to be the huge shopping spree that we thought it would be... I mean if we headed back and sold one of the beds we could probably buy a bunk bed or something. Maybe more if we tried selling the king sized one."

"But that's Ragna's bed and he gave us a place to stay. We can't just sell something that's his," Silica told them in their leader's defense while Pina let out a defiant caw.

"Please, that bed's way too huge for someone like 'im," Argo retorted as she shook her head. "'Sides, what's he going to do with all that extra room? Share it with someone?"

"Argo!" Liz and Silica shouted at once, with blushes on their faces.

"What?" We all know he couldn't she said, only moments before a pop-up notification appeared in front of her and the others. Opening it and reading the message inside, she felt that her earlier comment hit a little too close to home. "So... that Sasha woman he told us about this morning... Looks like she's a part of _Rebellion_ now."

"Ragna's got another girl that he's willing to form a team with," Liz asked as she looked over the notification herself. "...Now that I think of it, Agil is the only other guy that we've got in our guild."

"Not by choice though," Argo reminded her. "Rags has some other friends that 're guys. Klein, Diabel... Heathcliff too I think? Maybe? Anyways he's got other guy friends, just turns out that they were already in a guild back before you and he formed _Rebellion_."

"There are still a lot more girls than boys in the guild," even Silica had to admit. "But I don't think that Ragna's some sort of womanizer, he's probably just doing this because Sasha needed to join for some reason or he's doing something nice for her. I'm sure we can ask him about it later and he wouldn't try to hide anything."

"Plus, when was the last time you saw Ragna actually make a pass at a girl?" Argo reminded. "He's completely clueless when it comes to women. Heck, he even _proposed_ to yours truly by complete accident."

' _She's got a point...'_ the young Blacksmith thought to herself. ' _But..._ ' She then thought of the few times that Ragna had helped her overcome her feelings of inadequacy in the game, times like his motivational lesson on floor 10 and the reminding her that she shouldn't compare herself to Asuna or anyone else. She also thought back to the first time she'd teamed up with Ragna, the escapade back on Floor Eight. She remembered that even thought the situation seemed bleak, even though the monster seemed invincible, all he cared about was holding the thing back so that she and the others could escape with their lives at the cost of his own if it came to that.

"Back to the furniture," Silica began, snapping Liz out of her thoughts. "What are we going to do? Almost all of this stuff is out of our price range and we're still going to need to install those special doors that Argo talked about."

"I guess in that case the only thing we can really do is try an' take what we can from our place in tent town and use that to fill in the gaps and sell whatever we don't need back to the shops," Argo said with a sigh. "I was hopin' that we'd get a better desk at least, but it looks like we'll be lucky if we can make the front room look even a little professional."

"That's just the way it's going to be," Liz said with a sigh. "At the very least we've already got a few job offers, maybe we can earn some money that way and get better gear as time goes on... of course then we'd also need to move up to the higher floors as they get unlocked to stay relevant."

"That's just the struggle of bein' one of the smaller guilds," Argo told them sadly. "I guess for now we should just focus on the house we have and get it ready for Ragna when he comes back."

 _Later -Floor Seven-_

"Keep your shield up!" Ragna shouted at Sasha as she was struck by an arrow from a distant elven archer. "It won't do you any good if you're not able to guard yourself with it!"

"I'm trying!" Sasha told him as she tried to guard again against an elven swordsman as its weapon clashed against her weapon with a sword skill. This was enough to send her stumbling back, only to be hit again from a distant enemy archer. The medium armor she was wearing, a cream colored thick leather suit with a set breastplate and a thin battle-skirt, absorbed almost all of the damage, keeping her safe.

"Just try to keep your footing sturdy," Ragna told her as he crossed his arms and watched the conflict from afar.

The attacks on Sasha were barely doing anything to her health thanks to the equipment he'd given her, but it was still taking her some time to deal with these opponents, she was even having trouble using _Horizontal Slash;_ the beginner 1-handed sword skill. Sasha tried following Ragna's advice, managing to block the next sword skill used on her and only lurching back slightly as he result. Seeing an opening, she activated _Horizontal Slash_ and managed to make a clean cut across the monster's chest, causing it to shatter immediately.

' _She's starting to get somewhere at least,_ ' Ragna thought to himself as Sasha made her way forward against the enemy archer, managing to block the arrows shot at with he shield as she neared her opponent. When she was within range, the enemy traded its bow for a dagger, but Sasha managed to use the time it switched its weapon out to deliver a fatal cut across its chest, causing the monster to shatter and combat to end.

"Looks like that's the end of that," Ragna muttered as the pop-up screen appeared in front of Sasha, letting her know the rewards she'd gained and that her level had increased. "Not too bad, a little more work and you'll be able to hold your own a bit better."

"I hope I'll be able to, because I'm not getting very far right now," she admitted as she sheathed her weapon. "Without your equipment and those additional levels you got for me before I started, I think I'd have died several times by now."

"That's what your teleport crystals are for," Ragna reminded her. "Any time you feel like you won't be able to win the round of combat or a group of less than friendly looking players are getting too close, you need to promise me that you'll use it. I need to make sure that you're going to be alright."

"I promise, but I think I'll be fine as long as I stick to the lower floors," Sasha told him. "Not many players will be down there in the first place and those that are will be those that are trying to avoid heading out into the fields in the first place."

"Just make sure that you're careful, I couldn't stand the thought of telling the kids that something happened to you," Ragna told her. "Come on, let's find a few more groups and then head back. I'll help you out with 'em from here on and you can try to keep up."

"Thank you for your support, I know this can't be easy for your leveling efforts," Sasha told him.

"Hey, you let me worry about my levels; we're here for the kids in the first place," Ragna reminded her.

"Speaking of which, do you mind if I ask you something?" Sasha questioned him. Not seeing an issue, the Reaper shrugged. "Just why do you care about the infants so much. I can understand wanting to do the right thing, but you seem to be going out of your way to make sure they're well cared for and have a place to stay. Why are you bothering?"

"...Truth is, I actually grew up in an orphanage myself," Ragna admitted before turning serious. "Come on, we should hurry if we want to make it back soon."

"Alright," Sasha told him. "I... I know this might not be the best time, but if you ever want to talk to me about it, I can't promise to say anything helpful, but I'll certainly listen to what you have to say."

"Won't really change anything," Ragna told her. "It's not like this is a new thing for me or I'm the only orphan out there. I've actually been dealing with this fine all of my life, no reason to get depressed over it now... Besides, growing up like that wasn't all that bad."

"That sounds more like an excuse not to open up," Sasha admitted.

"I've made a lot of those in the past, this ain't one of 'em," Ragna insisted before smiling. "Come on, no reason to be so gloomy. This is supposed to be your break from the kids; you're supposed to be having fun."

"I don't think heading into the fields and risking our lives hunting monsters can be considered 'fun,'" Sasha told him with a small scowl.

"Eh, it's fun for me a least," Ragna said with a slightly joking tone. This was apparently enough to get Sasha to giggle lightly. "There we go, a short break from Miss Serious."

"Fine, you've got me," Sasha finally admitted. "It's nice to be able to get away for a short while and let my hair down."

"That's all I was hoping for," the Reaper told her before chuckling. "Of course, I guess I could order you to relax since I'm your guild leader now."

"Does anyone else in the guild listen to your orders?" the caretaker asked with deserved skepticism.

"...Not as much as I'd like 'em to," he admitted, only to get Sasha to giggle at him as a result. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up..."

 _Later -Floor One-_

Ragna gave a soft sigh as he finally exited the orphanage with Shiori after the long day that he'd had. After he and Sasha had come back from the fields, she'd agreed to teach him a few of the basics of SAO's cooking system. Initially he'd been disappointed at how simple the game made the process of cooking food, but since Sasha had told him it'd be a reasonable idea to cook for the all of the children so he'd get some experience with the skill, he decided it might have been a blessing in disguise after all. As a reward for his help, Sasha had given him some beginner recipes for simple food to feed his guild with.

"Well, there's that done with," Ragna said as he looked into data created night sky. Even if this was a simulation, it still brought his a somewhat calm feeling as he and his pet fox walked through the empty streets of the _Town of Beginnings_ and headed for the teleportation altar. As the rounded the corner however, Ragna found someone waiting for him that he hadn't expected to run into... nor did he necessarily care to.

"Long time no see Spikes," Sanae Hanekoma greeted his fellow outsider with a relaxed smirk on his face.

"What the hell are you doing outside of the shop?" Ragna demanded with a his as he warily glanced around at his surroundings, no matter how empty they might be. "If someone saw us out here-"

"They'd see a man standing alone, talking to the air," Sanae told him. "The rest of the players only see the world through the system; they're looking at the data. You're different though; you can see the parts of this place that are supposed to be hidden from view; aka yours truly."

"Could've told me that to start with," Ragna muttered with a sigh. "So what did you need to come see me for? Couldn't you have just sent a message and told me to meet you at the shop?"

"Probably, but I enjoy my time outside as much as the next person does," the angel admitted before turning more serious. "On to business, what happened with the monster I told you about? You never came back to me on it."

"Well, with how damn exhausted I was at the time, I though you'd understand if I'd take a chance to catch up on my damn sleep," Ragna muttered before opening his menu. A few quick taps later, he managed to exchange his sword _BloodScythe_ for his brother's sword _Yukianesa,_ causing his right eye to turn green and his silver hair to turn blond. "Used my Soul Eater drive just like you told me to, after a while this thing popped out and the real fight began... I'm a little surprised that I managed to make it out of that one."

Sanae didn't respond right away; he took his time looking over the Nox Nyctores, Ragna's appearance change, and the fox animal helper beside him that looked like it was trying to get Ragna moving forward, not having seen Sanae. Eventually he let out a sigh. "Well, it looks like this could become trouble as more monsters are created by your influence, but if you're careful this could turn into quite the boon. You might even get further Nox's to your arsenal, giving your fighting style some additional versatility."

"Yeah, except that all of them are going to want me to kill myself," Ragna muttered. "This thing's not the real one, is it? The original's still back with my brother I mean."

"Yes, but it's as close to real as you can get in SAO," Sanae told him. "It's made of data, but it should behave in the exact same way as it did back in your world... with some limitations that will need to be unlocked as you go."

"Figures," Ragna muttered.

"Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends and the bad news begins," the coffee maker told him. "So... when was the last time you leveled up?"

"A few weeks I guess, but then again I haven't really been going out to gain levels for myself at all. Does it matter?"

"Well... open your status menu and you'll get the general idea," Sanae told him with a disappointed sigh. Not seeing what the issue was Ragna did as instructed, only for a harsh scowl to form on his face. "So... now you know."

"Wh-What the hell!?" Ragna shouted as he stared at the screen. "I need HOW MUCH to get to the next level!?"

"Yeah, I didn't really get it either," Sanae admitted. "I just received a strange feeling from the system around the same time I sent you out to take care of that favor for me... Looks like SAO's trying to limit your growth through leveling; now you need thirty times as much experience a normal player would to go up a level."

"...Did the sword do this?" Ragna demanded, earning a skeptic look from the barista. "My brother's sword, could it have caused this to happen just to screw with me?"

"Hadn't considered that actually," Sanae admitted before glancing skyward. "I guess it's possible... but if that's the case we have a problem. It means that when you find the other Nox's, and there _will_ be more of them, they could have the same effect on you. For all we know this could mean that you'd have to get hundreds of times as much experience as the rest of the players."

"Talk about a total pain in the ass," Ragna muttered as he crossed his arms moodily. "...What if I just got rid of 'em?"

"Beg pardon?"

"There's an option to throw away your gear, isn't there? If I used that then I might not have to put up with bullshit anymore."

"There too big of a risk, and there's no clear indicator that doing that would let your levels return to normal," Sanae told him as he laxly put his hands in his pockets and leaned back slightly. "If it somehow did let you throw the gear away, the problem could only worsen as pieces of the Nox scattered and managed to influence the system as a whole. And if the core was somehow unleashed as a result? Well..."

"I got it, this is a burden that I gotta carry myself," Ragna muttered aloud with a sigh.

"Hey, a chance for a second shot at life is never free, even if it's only temporary," Sanae explained. "Even if it's an angel that you make a deal with instead of a devil there's always going to be hell to pay..."

"Tell me something new," the Reaper told him before shaking his head wistfully and trying to put on a confident smirk. "Eh, what am I bitchin' about? I've taken down supposed gods for crying out loud; this is nothing new for me. I'll just have to dedicate some of my time for actual level grinding from now on instead of just killing everything I come across."

"...You're taking this _far_ better than I thought you would," the angel examined. "But I guess that's neither here nor there. I'll be seeing you around _Grim Reaper_... just try to keep on living until then." There was a bright flash of light for a brief instant, and the next Sanae had vanished completely.

"The damn guy is still a total mystery to me," Ragna muttered to himself before glance down and seeing Shiori sitting on the ground patiently and staring at him with her tiny eyes. He smirked as he returned his brother's katana to his inventory before kneeling down and petting the creature behind it's ears. "...Come on, we should be getting back to the others."

 _A Short While Later -Floor Nine-_

"Well, that's one difference," Ragna muttered as he looked over the outside of his new home. Just over the front door, a small wooden sign had been put up, showing the guild's insignia along with the word ' _REBELLION'_ beneath it in large fancy lettering. It was a small touch, but in the Reaper's eyes it was a good one.

Unlocking the door, he headed inside only to find the main foyer empty of anyone. Like they'd told him, they had set up special doors that you'd need a key for to access the rest of the house. The desk from Liz's tent shop from floor four had been brought up and was place on the far end of the room with a chair behind it to take requests. Heading downstairs, he saw that Liz had done the best she could in trying to turn the basement into her own smith shop, but it looked like it was far from completed.

Deciding he'd check the rest of the house, the Reaper checked the kitchen area where there didn't appear to be many changes aside form some additional cookware and some actual food in the pantry. Overall, the place looked more or less the same.

"Guess they weren't able to by that much with the Col we had on us," Ragna thought to himself as he crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter while Shiori headed upstairs, likely going to claim a spot on the large king sized bed. "...I should probably get to bed myself, now I've got manage taking care of jobs to help the lower ranked players, trying to find and clear the floor dungeons, AND spend all of the extra time I'm going to need to level up... Fricken' amazing."

"Ragna?" the Reaper heard a voice call from up the stairs. As the caller slowly descended, he saw Lisbeth in an evening robe, her hair a little messed up and and eyes slightly drowsy, indicating that she'd just woken up.

"Didn't know you had already decided to go to sleep," he noted aloud. "Sorry, did I wake you when I came in?"

"No, I was having a bit of trouble falling asleep in the first place," she told him as she closed the distance slightly, now not standing that far in front of the Reaper. "When did you get back?"

"Just now; I've had a long day," Ragna sighed before looking around the house. "Looks like you three had a pretty busy day yourselves getting this place put together."

"Well, we managed to get the first few things done at least," Liz told him. "We're going to need a lot more col if we're going to get this place ready for real."

"I'll see what I can do," he promised. "So, did the others already turn in as well?"

"They did, but Silica and I sort of needed to keep Argo from hogging the King sized bed in your room," she admitted, leading Ragna to roll his eyes. "But, um... we sort of got a notification that the Sasha woman you'd told us about this morning had just joined our guild, so I- I mean we were wondering about it..."

"I had her join us for her own sake," Ragna told her. "Apparently they had a run in with some assholes that wanted all of their supplies. Kids brought up my name and they ran off afterwards, so I figured if people knew she was a part of the guild they'd know to leave her alone."

"Oh, so that's what happened..." Liz said, now understanding what Ragna had been trying to do. "That makes sense. So did she show you how to cook then?"

"She did, and I helped her out by taking her to the fields and showing her a thing or two about combat," the Reaper explained before he thought back and groaned. "Of course, when I headed out with her, all the kids thought I was taking Sasha on a frickin' date."

' _Date...'_ Lisbeth thought as she looked to the ground, no longer looking the Reaper in the eye. Her mind was racing faster than it had ever before due to a mix of fear and anticipation as it cycled through her various memories with her guild leader.

"Talk about jumping to conclusions," he muttered under his breath. His blacksmith didn't appear to have heard him, in fact it looked like she was trembling, causing Ragna to worry. "Uh... Liz? Something wro-?"

She kissed him...

Fully...

On the mouth...

Ragna was unable to respond, in fact he could barely blink as his Blacksmith held his coat collar tightly to keep their lip lock as intimate as she could. Her supposed partner in this exchange didn't do anything to deny her show of affection, how could he with his brain and body completely frozen? What seemed like a long moment later, the kiss slowly ended and the two's faces were the same shade as Ragna's coat as their lips parted.

"I... um..." Liz began, fidgeting slightly under Ragna's obviously confused gaze. She'd acted in the moment, her actions completely irrational; now she was paying the price.

"So..." the Reaper began as he scratched the back of his head, praying for a deus ex machina. "That was, um... how long have you...?"

"For... for a while now," Liz said as she finally managed to find her voice once more. "After a while you... you started to mean so much more to me than just a friend... You saved my life and... It's thanks to you that I'm where I am now and... Well... I was starting to... get worried."

"Worried?" Ragna asked, confusion clearly on his face. "Why on earth would you be worried?"

"That you'd... that you'd find someone else..." Liz admitted. "I mean you were spending all of this extra time with Asuna, you and Argo have always seemed sort of close, and... then I heard about Sasha and I thought..."

"I don't really see them as anything more than close friends and teammates," Ragna told his blacksmith, though questions were starting to form in his own mind now. ' _Really, just what is it that everyone sees when I'm hanging out with a girl anyways?_ '

"But... if they're friends and teammates, then... then what do you think about me?" Liz asked, trying to keep her tone even, but failing horribly.

"..." Ragna didn't respond back immediately as he thought back to his first meeting with Sanae.

 _'I_ _'ve studied SAO's programming, and I've seen variants of this world enough times to know what happens when it's cleared; the game goes up in smoke,'_ the angle had told him.

' _And me with it,'_ Ragna had finished.

' _I can't let myself get too close to anyone while we're trapped in this game,_ ' he thought to himself, returning to the present. _'Once we win this thing I'm history and the rest of them return to whatever lives they had before this. Last thing I want is to send anyone off with more baggage._ '

"...I don't know," the Reaper told her honestly, knowing that was the only answer he could muster himself to say.

"I see..." Liz said, starting to become disappointed. "I... I'm not asking anything like we get married in game right away or anything, but... could you, maybe... give _us_ a chance?"

"..."

' _I'll hurt Lisbeth if I just outright tell her no and I can't do that to her... But I can't let this go too far either... Is it really that bad if I...?'_ "Maybe... well, we can try for a while, test the waters out and... all of that... Make sure it's going to work..." Ragna's blush deepened slightly. "This... is actually my first serious relationship with anyone."

"Mine too really," Liz admitted before her face finally gave off a small smile. "I guess that just means we'll have to figure it out together."

"...I'd like that," the Reaper told her kindly, trying to stop acting so serious and put on a smile himself. His body lurched slightly as Liz threw her arms around his waist in an affectionate hug, resting her head against his chest. Ragna sighed as he gently ran a gloved hand through her soft pink hair.

' _Damn you Ragna the Bloodedge,'_ he swore angrily at himself inside his own mind. _'What the hell are you going to do now?'_

 _ **Author's Note**_

 _ **Well... that's another bombshell down...**_

 _ **There's not really a whole lot to say here. Lot of stuff happened, worked on this chapter for a bit, and did the best I could writing a 'romantic' encounter. I use the quotations because there's a lot more going on than just some romantic tension here.**_

 _ **Anyways, I'll see you guys in the next chapter. My story next week will likely be 'Bloodedge of Fairytail.' Enjoy the Omake, and happy Friday the 13th!**_

 _ **Ciao!**_

 _ **A World of Data**_

 _'...Let's start at the beginning,'_ a voice thought within it owner's mind as their eyes started up at the blue sky that was only partially cloudy. ' _It feels as though I've been here before... I'll start by gathering my thoughts._ '

Such a task would be impossible for anyone else. The being in question had an IQ reaching well over 600 and had lived far longer than most. The very attempt of taking even a single cognitive thought out of the seeming endless surplus of data that was his mind would have been seen as a fool's task... but this man was as far from a fool as one could get.

"My name is... Relius Clover," the figure spoke aloud, even his voice sounding collected and dignified. "I am, or rather I was a Colonel of the Novus Orbis Librarium and their chief researcher. I also used to be known as _One_ of the Great Sage's and I am one of the few remaining survivors of that order... assuming I am still alive."

With his identity and his memories well on their way to becoming reassembled, Relius attempted to move his physical body. Not a large movement, just a small twitch of his left index finer. The response was not delayed and slowly he managed to regain his sense of feeling throughout most of his body as he finally managed to take a proper breath of air in.

"This air is... oddly stagnant," the scientist commented as he slowly rose to his feet examining himself before the area surrounding him. He was wearing his regular purple magicians cloak over his attire with his enigmatic golden mask covering his face. His surroundings seemed to be that of an open field with few trees to be seen. Not a single other creature was found anywhere around him, though there did appear to be a large town off in the distance. "This doesn't appear to be familiar... and that is without even considering the odd artificial feel of this place."

Intrigued by his current conditions, he snapped his fingers in order to bring forth his wife and main form of combat, Ignis... but to no avail. The mad puppeteer scowled beneath his mask before flinging his arms to the side in several directions, trying to summon his combat contraptions from his cloak and his storage Ars... again to no avail.

"My powers have been sealed then," he thought seeming far more perplexed at the development than annoyed or worried. "That's an ability that far few can have any claim to do..." Glancing to the city off in the distance, Relius started to make his way over. "Perhaps it's proper that I seek answers to my predicament."

As soon as Relius made his way into the city, he knew full well that he was going to stand out. The people he encountered were garbed in armor that was a strange fusion of medieval plating along with more common day designed leathers. All of them appeared to be in their early twenties at the oldest, making his age and clothing have him stick out like a sore thumb.

"Who the heck is this guy?" one of the players whispered under their breath. "Think he's some sort of NPC?"

' _NPC, most likely translated in this context as a non-player character; a term most common in Role-Play Games... An odd term to use to describe me; I always saw myself as more of a protagonist... or a central antagonist at the very least. Still, if they're describing the world as an RPG...'_

"Well with that clothing, maybe he'll give us a decent reward," one of the players thought as he and his group approached. "Hey, old timer."

"I'll ask that you don't call me that," the Mad Puppeteer said bluntly and to the point.

"Heh, you're a pretty responsive one; wonder how many conversation branches you've got," another player in the group muttered. "So what's the big idea, you offering us some sort of quest or what? And for the love of god, let's hope it isn't an escort one."

"You're mistaken if you think I'm one of those simple NPCs," Relius said, deciding that the mistake would be better corrected sooner than later. "That being said, I am curious about the details of this place. I'm not all too sure where I've found myself."

"You... you don't..." one of the players began before howling with laughter. "COME ON! Kayaba's sick trap was revealed a month ago! Did you go and put the nerve gear on like an idiot!? What the hell!?"

' _Nerve Gear? Perhaps that is the interface that has allowed the people here to appear in this bizarre world. I can only assume that Kayaba may be the creator of this place, but what's this trap they're talking about?'_

"Come on old man, why don't you say something? Did you go in cause someone promised you that freaky fetish clothing?" a player asked tauntingly and the rest of his group laughed at Relius.

' _They're starting to bore me._ ' "Well then, if I'm just some old pervert like you think I am, I suggest a contest via combat," Relius suggested, leaving the players to quite down. "If you win, you can have this clothing that you seem to care so much about."

"Robbing an old guy of his clothing?" the lead player asked as he scratched his chin. "Normally I'd be against it, but yours looks like it could pay for that upgrade I've been after. What do you want if you (heh) win?"

"Answers and knowledge of this place, the only thing that's meaningful to myself," Relius explained before smirking. "Do we have a deal?"

"Seems stupid to say no," the player said as he grabbed out his sword and swiped his finger. Relius's analytical mind watched ever movement as the player tapped his button and sent him a duel challenge. "Just don't go crying after I knock you to the floor."

"You'll see no tears from me," Relius promised as he accepted the duel. A small counter in the corner began counting down as the duel was about to commence.

"Wait, where's his weapon?" one of the players questioned.

"He's probably hiding a dagger or something," suggested another.

"Or something," Relius repeated, a rare instance of allowing his darker sense of humor to shine through. At last the counter reached zero.

"You're mine!" the player shouted as they rushed forward and leaped into the air. Letting out a roar he swung his sword done at Relius only the stop short and remain suspended in the air. "What the-!"

"Not a terrible weapon at least; the material appears to be sturdy enough, but even this basic design leaves something to be desired in its portions." The players around the playing field gasped as they saw that Relius had managed to catch the blade with a single hand and was now supporting both the weapon and the player holding it in the air effortlessly. "A weapon this simple likely suits its wielder I suppose," he followed up before effortlessly tossing the player and his weapon a good distance, watching without amusement as he crashed to the floor.

"Wh-What the hell was that!?" the player demanded as he quickly made his way to his feet. "How the hell did you do something like that!?"

' _Winded and confused clearly, but he does not appear to be in any form of pain,_ ' Relius thought to himself with interest. "I just saw that you decided to fight me in the most basic of ways and responded in turn. Perhaps, you'd like to give up now?"

"Rrrr... Not a chance!" the player shouted as his blade glowed with energy. The played lunged forward at high speeds towards his target. Not moving until his target had almost hit him, Relius twirled his body and avoid the attack, right before using his hand to deliver a powerful chop to his opponents back, causing him to stumble forward and his life gauge deplete.

"I see... so there's an indicator of how much damage you've taken," Relius observed as the other player regained his footing. "And then there was that techniques you used; basic, but it has potential... in more capable hands."

"You bastard!" the player shouted as he continued to rush forward, he sword keeping a constant glow and he slashed blindly trying to hit Relius but to no avail. The old man dodged with ease, deflected with his bare hand, and redirected with grace. After one such slash the player readied themselves for another attack, only to freeze to the spot as Relius stopped him by holding his index and middle finger to the attacker's forehead.

"Checkmate."

While Relius was toned well enough underneath his clothing, he didn't have nearly the muscle mass as some of the other fighters from his world, but he'd only felt like a bulky body would put him at a disadvantage. His true strength was his tactics, his hidden gadgets, and of course his peerless coordination and body alignment while he fought... as evident by the devastating power of his one inch punch.

His opponent screamed as he sailed through the air before crashing into the side of a building. An immortal _object_ sign showed itself and stopped the player from smashing through the wall, but the victim was still dazed on the floor as the match was called in the other's favor. As he slowly recovered, he saw Relius heading over towards him, his very face void of emotion.

"Now then... I think you owe me my explanation," the mad puppeteer said as he menacingly stood over the player that had been taunting him not five minutes ago.

"I-I..." the player stuttered out as he glanced around him. All of the other players were frozen at the sight while others slowly backed away, trying not to do anything that would set off the mysterious enigma; not a person coming to his aid. "I'll talk! Oh god! I swear! I'll tell you everything!"

"Indeed..." Relius said darkly as a gloved hand reached towards the downed player, covering the victim in shadows and making the only source of the light the demonic glow of the eyes that hid behind the mask. "I know that you will..."


	20. Couple

_**Author's Note: Yeah yeah, I know I said**_ _ **Rebirth of Azure**_ _ **would be next, but I had... a heavy touch of skepticism about posting that chapter so close to Christmas. Here's a little lighter material for everyone to keep them satisfied until after the holidays. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Blade XIX: Couple**_

' _Sun's still not up yet,'_ Ragna muttered to himself as he groggily opened his eyes and slowly shifted his body in the bed. ' _I should probably get up and going now though... I can check out floor 13 today and try to get some levels in on the monsters that I find there. It's going to be a pain in the ass to try and level myself with everything else going on now that the games upping the cost to rise a level. I need to_ _balance my time to take jobs that can help lower leveled players get an edge, try to head up to the higher floors and stay on the front lines, keep my level up to stay there and-'_ As the Reaper attempted to move from the bed, he finally felt the slight weight on his side, keeping him down. ' _And then there's this..._ '

Laying on the bed and tenderly sleeping against his side with her head resting atop his shoulder was Lisbeth. After the two had agreed to become a couple and had embraced they'd gone to bed upstairs and... Ragna had been more than a little surprised that his girlfriend had wanted to sleep in the same bed as him, but she'd been clear in her message when she told him not to get any _ideas_. As a result, he'd taken off his metal shoes and jacket to sleep while Lisbeth had slept beside him in her pink night gown. Ragna's pet fox, Shiori, had fallen asleep at the two's feet and had curled up there.

"...At least I slept soundly for once," Ragna said to himself as he gently moved Lisbeth from his person and rose from his bed. Twisting his neck to get a couple of sound pops out of it, he looked back at the sleeping form of his girlfriend and gently pushed a clump of her pink hair to the side. Without saying another word, the Reaper rose from his bed and headed downstairs.

Heading into the pantry, he opened the notes that he'd gotten from Sasha the day prior. After considering his options, he came up with a recipe for scrambled eggs with cheese, hash-browns, and orange juice. Looking over the instructions in the menu, he gave a soft sigh as he followed the all too simple tasks to cook the food.

' _Hopefully whatever top-class food this game has is harder than this crap; It's boring me to death,'_ Ragna though as his eggs and hash-browns cooked in the pan while he made some fresh-squeezed orange juice... basically all he had to do was a put a oranges in the juicer and select how much pulp he wanted in the drink. Eventually though, the smell of the food seemed to stir the others from their rest.

"Mornin'," Argo said as she came from downstairs in her normal hooded outfit with a yawn. "Like what we did to the place?"

"Yeah, the three of you must've put some serious work into the house," Ragna said, not looking up from his cooking.

"It's a start. So... ya see Liz anywhere? Wasn't in her bed when I woke up but my friend list says she's still in this house," his info-broker asked him. Ragna froze at the question while trying to appear he was only examining the food.

' _Shit... Liz and Argo were in the same room, weren't they? ...Meaning if Liz is still in my bed right now..._ ' Ragna didn't say anything, he just continued to tend to his food. ' _If I can hold out for Liz to wake up, maybe I can leave it to her to break the news...'_ The Reaper then heard more footsteps coming from the stairway. ' _There she is now, thank g-'_

"Good morning everyone!" Silica shouted happily as she rushed down the stairs with her faithful companion Pina rest on her shoulder.

'- _God dammit,'_ the Reaper finished his thought with a sigh.

"Yo" Argo said in response. "Sleep well I hope?"

"Yep, it was really nice to finally have a place that I can really call my own! Pina slept well too!" the youngest member of Ragna's guild declared happily. The Reaper couldn't control the small chuckle he let out at Silica's energy.

"Careful there Ragna, you were getting' close to an actual smile there," Argo taunted, earning a glare from her guild leader as Silica giggled. "Well good, 'cause I got a couple of announcements to make for _Rebellion's_ first day in business. Soon as Liz gets here we'll get started. Right Ragna?"

 _'Aw hell, does she already know?'_ the Reaper thought to himself nervously as he glanced to Argo whose complexion seemed to be passive. "Well... I mean, is there a lot to discuss? Shouldn't we just get started now and fill her in when she gets here?"

"An' hafta tell it more than once? I'll just say it the one time thank you very much," Argo told him, leaving Ragna in a precarious position. "So... any ideas where Liz is?"

"That's..." Ragna began before he heard yet another round of footsteps descending from the floor above he let out a sigh of relief as-

"Yip!" came the sound from Shiori as his fox came downstairs into the kitchen.

' _OH COME ON!'_

"'ey Ragna, that Sasha girl gave you some recipes on animal food, right?" Argo asked the Reaper.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll got to making some food for you and Shiori in a moment," the Reaper muttered, earning a scowl from Argo as he grabbed a few other ingredients from the pantry. Shiori sat patiently by the table, waiting for when Ragna would bring her the food.

"...Alright, screw the waiting," Argo said gruffly as she placed her hands on her hips. "Where the hell is Lisbeth!?"

"..." Ragna remained silent once more before he heard a yawn come the bottom the of the stairwell turning his head he finally saw the slightly drowsy form of Lisbeth, now wearing a robe over her night gown. "There you are..." he muttered.

"Yeah, I didn't see you next to me when I got up," she said plainly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

' _...No... she... she... didn't just...'_ Ragna thought to himself as the room became dead silent, save for the frying of the stove top. He was so out of it, he didn't even react when Liz made her way over to him and forced him down to deliver a light kiss to his cheek.

"So eggs for... breakfast?" Liz asked as she noticed the other girls staring at them like deer caught in headlights. She was confused at what it could possibly be at, but as he realization started to grow, so too did the blush upon her face. "You-! You told them right!?"

"I was waiting for you to come downstairs and do it!" Ragna shouted in return.

"Dummy! I was waiting upstairs so that you'd have time to break it to them before I came down!"

"I was stalling for you to tell them!" Ragna exclaimed back before groaning. ' _Well at least this can't possibly get any worse...'_

"Wh-what the hell are you two talking about!?" came another girl's voice but not from any of the three. Slowly turning his head with an impossible sense of dread, the Reaper then saw Asuna and Freya, standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the lobby. Freya still seemed shocked by the developments while Asuna... "D-Did you two _sleep_ with each other!?" ...Was pissed, very pissed.

"H-How the hell did you get in here!? I never gave you a key!" Ragna yelled at the top of his lungs.

"We didn't need one," Freya told him bluntly, trying to push a stray strand of her turquoise hair to the side so she could glare at her teacher more easily. "The doors were unlocked when we came in."

Thinking back to the night prior, Ragna then remembered that he had never unlocked the front or foyer doors when he'd returned, meaning that someone could have come in and stolen everything from the group. A sudden rise of heat came from behind the Reaper as the breakfast he'd been preparing was now on fire. A quick glance around the room would tell you the situation; aside from Lisbeth who had her head buried deep in her hands, every girl in the room had their eyes focused on Ragna in a glare (including Silica).

"...This is why I wanted Liz to break the news in the first place," Ragna said more to himself than as an explanation for the others.

A tense ten minutes of prep time later, everyone was seated at the large table in the dining room with a plate of Ragna food in front of them, none of the tension in the room appearing to have faded. Shiori the fox wasn't a part of these such developments and ate its food pleasantly enough. Silica only had a large blush on her face as she stroked Pina's body and kept her eyes focused on the floor. The other girls, however, glared at their guild leader and ex-roommate/friends/teacher and new girl/problem and best friend.

"...We didn't have sex alright!?" Liz suddenly shouted, breaking the long-standing silence. Everyone's eyes were now focused on Blacksmith, almost in a sense of bizarre awe.

"Well... that's one way to get a conversation started," Ragna muttered. ' _Wait, would the game even let us have intercourse? I mean, I'm allowed to take all of my clothing off when I shower so... Okay, not thinking about THAT any further.'_

"How long has... _this_ been going on?" Argo decided to ask, bringing her two cents into the mix.

"Since last night," Ragna said as crossed his arms and thought back to the night prior. "After I got back late from helping Sasha last night, Lisbeth came downstairs to greet me and... well after some talking, we decided we'd give dating a shot."

"...And that's all you have to say? Just like that?" Asuna demanded. "There's something you're not telling us."

"Plenty," Ragna told her before trying to put on a smirk as he tapped the side of his nose twice. "But that's on a Boyfriend/Girlfriend need to know basis."

"Tch, baka," she grumbled before she rather moodily began digging into her breakfast.

"Sooo..." Freya began, trying to make sense of this whole mess. "Whose idea was it for you two to sleep in the same bed?"

The young blacksmith's face heated up yet again. "Boyfriend/Girlfriend need to know-!"

"Lisbeth's," Ragna interrupted bluntly leading for his horrified girlfriend to glare at him. "...What, you think I'm taking the fall for you? Hell no."

"You're my boyfriend! You're supposed to take the fall for me from time to time!" Lisbeth shouted at him.

"Yeah, and so far, you're oh and two; maybe I will decide to take one sooner or later, preferably when it doesn't involve me getting beaten within an inch of my life by every girl in the immediate area," Ragna told her before scooping a forkful of eggs into his mouth. ' _Damn, this is bland as all hell...'_ "Hey Asuna, you got any good recipes I could try out?" _Lightning Flash_ didn't respond. "Asuna?"

"...Show me that you can take care of Liz... maybe then I'll show you something worth cooking," she told him before looking at Ragna with a heated glare. "Deal?"

"I guess that seems fair.." he agreed as he continued eating, the rest of the meal seeming to continue in awkward silence. _'...Even after what just happened, this still beats paying for everyone… but only barely._ '

 _Later_

"Alright, so now that Asuna and Freya are gone let's get to work on our plans for moving forward as a guild," Ragna told the others as they sat around the now clear dining room table. "So Argo, you said that you've got some jobs lined up for us, so tell us what you've got."

"Actin' the part of a leader now, eh Raggy?" Argo asked her guild leader with her usual whimsical cackle. "Anyways, I did come up with some ideas on managing our time and I think I've got most of this figured out for now. Our shop's going to be open around 11AM game time 'till around 4PM. Either Liz and I will be running the front desk; people will come in with their requests and we can greet 'em with a smile. When Liz isn't workin' the front desk she'll be takin' care of equipment orders for our clients, meanwhile I'll go between the front desk and my own info hunting. Ya with me so far?"

"So far yeah," Ragna said. "What about Silica and I? How do we fit into all of this?"

"Easy, you're gonna be the ones handling the requests," Argo told him. "Beginnin' of each day I'll give you both some tasks to work on and any info I've got for handling yer jobs. Silica might not be at yer level yet, so I'll start her off on some of the easier ones while I leave the tougher jobs for you."

"...Alright, I don't see any problems so far," Ragna admitted as he crossed his arms. "How often are we going to be do this type of guild work?"

"It depends on how successful we are doing this kind of work, for now I'm thinking I'll have you do this kind of work every Sunday; we wouldn't want to keep you from the front lines so you'd have to stop clearing floor dungeons by yourself." Ragna rolled his eyes at Argo's accusation. "Anyways, ya don't have ta finish the gathering quests in one day, just work on it the best you can and try to get it done in three days at most, since that's when a contract expires. For today though I'm gonna start you off with a much quicker job." Bringing up her menu Argo sent over the request info to her guild leader.

"...Eliminate a patrol group?" Ragna asked as he crossed his arms.

"Clueless right?" Argo guessed with a smirk. "Long story short; a group of lower ranked players found a good experience grinding area on floor eight. The enemies aren't too tough, the drops are pretty fair for that point in the game, and most importantly th' area's respawn cycle is really short. The problem's that there's a group of high leveled monsters patrolling the area that's there to keep ya from abusing the place. They've gone and beaten 'em before, but the drops were awful, they used up half of their healing items in the fight, and another patrol came in just a few days later. That's where you come in."

"Got it, I just need to go in and beat down the patrol group," the Reaper acknowledged. "Then what?"

"Then just PM me sayin' that the jobs done and I can let our clients know that you did yer part," Argo explained. "If ya want, you can take a gathering quest I have for you and work on. Sound good?"

"Yeah, I guess we've got a plan then," Ragna told them as he used his menu to bring out _BloodScythe_ from his storage before placing the massive blade on his weapons belt. "Guess I should head out and..." Ragna was about to make his way out the door, but then realized he should to say goodbye to his girlfriend first... the question was how he was going to do that with Silica and Argo watching; in fact, it looked like they were waiting around to see what he did. ' _Frickin'..._ '

With a short sigh the Reaper headed over to his girlfriend, wrapped her up a quick hug which she returned, and gave her a small peck on the forehead. "I'll see you later," he promised with a small smirk that she returned with a bright smile as he headed out the door.

"...Well, least he's trying," Argo muttered under her breath while Silica stayed silent at the display. Shiori didn't seem to care and remained curled up on a chair, content with being left behind to nap for the day.

 _Meanwhile -Floor 13: Thickfern Forest-_

A large black bear let out a threatening roar as it stood upon its hind legs, its long claws glowing as it activated its attack skill to tear the player that stood before it. The monster barely managed to lunge forward as it was stabbed several time by a vicious flurry off attacks. The monster was still alive, but damaged as it was forced back, its attack interrupted. Still managing to stay up on its hind legs, the bear roared as it raised its massive arms to crush its prey, only to be stopped as a rapier's point was forced through its mouth and out of the back of its head. The monster's roar slowly transformed into a whimper as it finally shattered to pieces.

"You seem tense," Freya noted as Asuna sheathed her rapier and her results screen came up.

"I'm not tense, the monsters are just stronger than what I'm used to so I'm going to start attack much faster," the legendary _Lightning Flash_ explained as she closed the screen in front of her. "Besides, how could you tell if I'm tense or not? This is our first time out in the fields together."

"Maybe, but Ragna taught me a thing or two about reading your opponent so I can tell when someone's on edge," Freya explained. "What? Are you really upset that those two are dating?"

"Of course I am!" Asuna told her with annoyance as the two continued to walk through the forest. "What was Liz thinking when she came up with the idea to start dating Ragna!"

' _Someone's still in denial,_ ' Freya thought as she shook her head wistfully. "And that has nothing to do with you?"

"It has everything to do with me; Lisbeth is my best friend," she told the _Valkyrie_ with her hands on her hips. "And Ragna... well... he's another story all together."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Freya asked as another bear show up. "This one's mine, but what's your problem with Ragna anyways?"

"Oh, don't you know?" Asuna asked liked it was obvious.

"Uh, no? You're being pretty cryptic for someone who's supposed to be outright angry at Ragna," Freya noted as she cut the bear across the chest, but the creature remained standing.

"Let's see; he swears like a sailor, he's constantly putting Liz in danger by taking her out to the fields, he always tries to do things along and remain a loner, he's snarky to everyone he talks to, but most of all he won't let anyone into his life!" Asuna shouted before a pop-up box appeared in front of her.

 _ **New Skill Learned: Maiden's Rage**_

"Wow, who ever knew a game could sass?" Freya noted aloud with a smirk as she slid back to avoid the bear's claws. Bracing her warblade, she then rushed forward and impaled the monster through and destroyed it. "But back to your rant, isn't that part of his charm?"

"What do you mean charm? He's got no charm, negative charm even," she said further insulting Ragna.

"But he's still your friend isn't he?" Freya mentioned. "Come on, admit it; you sort of like the more dark and brooding side of him, don't you?"

"...Well, I... maybe..." Asuna admitted. "I won't back down about him opening up though, he keeps _way_ too much to himself than is healthy."

"Then you should be happy he's dating your friend; that way he'll be sure to open up," Freya admitted. "For them to be in a happy relationship, what's needed?"

"Common sense?" Asuna guessed with a glare.

"Eh, that's usually optional in love (according to those Shakespeare stories I've read at least). No _communication_ is what they need. If they're in a healthy relationship, they'll be talking things out and share their moods and feelings. Ragna will be opening up to her, maybe without even realizing it."

"Yeah, but..." _Lightning Flash_ began. Seeing her opportunity, Freya took her shot.

"When will Ragna open up to you? Easy, when you do the same to him."

Normally when Asuna was hit with this sort of comment, she'd quickly deny any feelings towards the Reaper with a short rant and a deep blush on her face... but something in Freya's tone and bluntness told her that she her fellow guild mate wouldn't buy it.

"Well... I mean it's too late now if I wanted to do that; he's already starting to date Lisbeth you saw it yourself."

"Yeah, he's just _starting_ to date her; knowing Ragna he probably isn't fully committed to the role or sure of himself. And it's still early, you might as well put all of your cards out on the table and make sure he knows... you know you'll regret it if you don't."

"...Are you speaking from experience?" Asuna asked.

"I guess... It's not exactly first hand though," Freya admitted though her tone made it seem rather ominous.

"So, while we're on the topic of opening to others, what about you and Ragna?" Asuna decided to ask as she crossed her arms. "You spent more than your fair share time with him, and he managed to teach you enough to get you third in command... What's your story with him?"

Freya didn't answer right away instead looking down at the powerful glowing sword in her hands. Smirking to herself, she sheathed the massive blade on her back. "He's just my teacher; he's a good one but… he's totally not my type."

 _Floor Eight -Southern Fields-_

"ACHOOO!" Ragna sneezed loudly for the umpteenth time in the last few moments alone. "Dammit, is my brother's Nox Nyctores screwing with me so that I can get a damned cold or is it someone speaking bad about me behind my back? ...Considering what I had to go through this morning, the latter seems pretty damn likely."

The Grim Reaper's travels to the area designated via his info-broker had been rather uneventful as of the moment and that was starting to annoy him. Most of the time Ragna tried to clear any dungeon or explore the front lines he'd find any monster encounters annoying or just a plain waste of his time. That had been before he'd been given the news from Sanae last night that he'd been cursed to require insane amounts of XP to go up a level, and now knew that he needed to actively seek out monsters for potential experience... that and any amount of fighting would help to take his mind off of the craziness that had occurred both the prior night and that morning.

"Seriously, are monsters actually trying to avoid me?" Ragna demanded aloud with annoyance before spotting a small group of orcs up ahead. There were only five of them in total and they wouldn't net him much experience, but at the moment some was better than nothing. Looking around the immediate area, the Reaper confirmed that there wasn't another player anywhere in sight. "Let's get this done with as quickly as I can."

The first orc was never aware of Ragna as it was cleaved in half from head to foot by the massive hunk of steel wielded in the Reaper's left hand. The group became slowly aware of Ragna as their programming caused them to perceive him as a threat. All too late as the Reaper impaled his blade through a second orc's chest. Going for a third attack, Ragna immediately swung his sword downwards as hard as he could, cleaving through another monster and raising a massive cloud of dust when his blade hit the ground. The final two managed to raise their axes to attack, but that was the extent of their success as Ragna set _BloodScythe_ to its scythe form before cleaving through both of them. Around the Reaper, all five of the orcs exploded into shards of light. Resetting his weapon back to his sword form and setting back on belt, Ragna check up the results screen.

"Yep, barely anything..." he muttered as he checked the XP and col he'd gained from the battle. He'd gotten a few material drops, one of which was a rarer one according to Argo, but his sense of accomplishment stopped there. Closing the screen, the Reaper opened the map and gave a quick look to his target's location. "Looks like I still have a ways to go... Dammit, I better get running if I'm going to clear this thing any time soon."

Taking off into a full sprint, the Reaper started making much better time over the grass rough lands. He felt the wind hit him in the face as crossed over the grasslands, not bothering to slow for rock formations or anything else that stood in his path. It didn't take him terribly long, but eventually he made his way to the area that Argo had specified.

"This looks like that level grinding place," he muttered aloud. "Or should I say _level farming_?"

The irony of Ragna's words that he was indeed on farmland. Spiked cow fences were set up in a large 20 acre area. The cows inside were much bigger than the average cow with a slightly scared complexion. The title above them read _Orcish Cow_ or _Orcish Bull_ depending on what one you were looking at. Slowly walking down and getting a looked at the area, Ragna crossed his arms as he stared at the immediate area.

"So... the cows and bulls are what give the experience, so where's the patrol-?"

An inhuman roar.

"Found 'em," Ragna said as he observed the force that approached. It was a group of five orcs, though the appeared to be much stronger than the last batch Ragna had easily breezed through. For one thing, these orcs were much taller; standing close to a strong eight feet tall. The orcs that Ragna had faced earlier had been armed with hand axes and was wearing protective leather while this group was wearing thick metal full-plate and was using two-handed axes and hammers. Each opponent had two full bars of health above their head, above that was their title _Orc Farm Master_.

"So essentially I'm killing these things so I have easy access to slaughter their cattle..." Ragna thought, considering the moral gray area he was about to get into. Shaking the thought out of his head, he brought out _BloodScythe_ once more. "This ain't for me; it's for other players that need this experience if they're going to survive this hellhole. 'Sides they're just data, no reason to lose any sleep over 'em."

The first Orc's greataxe was easily redirected by Ragna's much larger blade, sending the target's blade into the ground. Activating his _Blast_ sword skill, Ragna unleashed a massive attack on the target, but the Orc stayed standing and the others quickly moved in to rush Ragna. Figuring he'd continue to push himself like he'd been doing earlier, the Reaper pushed himself to increase his attack speed as far as the game could let him at this stage. Putting all of his weight into a swing he managed to swing the place a full 720 degrees in a violent torrent, cleaving through most of the monsters, yet none fell.

" _ **Dead Spike!"**_ Ragna shouted, firing off his signature projectile at the enemy before leaping back. While the mass of darkness made contact with more than a few foes, still none of them fell. One of the warriors that hadn't been hit by the attack circled around and came at Ragna with charged weapon skill. The Reaper nearly felt his legs buck under the force of the blow, but he grit his teeth as he managed to stay standing. Forcing the attack off of him, he cut the Orc across the head, but it remained standing.

' _They're still up? Its a wonder a group of novices managed to handle these things,'_ Ragna thought as the Orcs managed to surround him. Realizing even once he was done with this batch that he'd have a long day ahead of him, as hiss of breath left Ragna's mouth. Three Orcs came at the Reaper from opposing sides, but Ragna was done with this game. Stabbing the sword forward he caught one of the Orcs in the chest, but didn't destroy it. Ragna activated a powerful sword skill before swinging both his blade and the impaled orc over his head before slamming it down upon the other two with enough force to cause all three of them to bounce off of the ground. Using his window of opportunity, Ragna unleashed a massive slash against all three of them, creating six halves of the orcs before they shattered to pieces.

Hoping to deal with the remaining two quickly, Ragna unleashed his secret _**Darkness Fang**_ technique, plowing into one of the orcs in a feral rush of shadows before encasing the Orc within a giant red and black claw. Ragna could swear he saw fear in the program before he crushed it leaving only the fifth _Orc Farm Master_ standing. The Orc tried rushing him from behind with a charging slash but Ragna's arm stretched out and managed to catch the monster by the throat. Stabbing the monster on his sword, he sent it into the air before transforming his weapon to a scythe, flipping into the air, and bringing a heavy blade upon his opponent to finally finish it.

"Tch, still not up to full... and level progression's going to take an eternity from here on out," Ragna thought aloud with a groan as he reset his weapon. "Well whatever, I guess that's just what I'm going to have to deal with."

Opening his menu, the Reaper was about to send a message to Argo and let his info-broker know that he'd completed his job before turning back to the fields he'd just cleared. The cows and bulls were mulling around, minding their own business and grazing in the fields unaware of the Reaper. Knowing that this was supposed to be a good level grinding area and he'd need the any quick experience wherever he could get it, the Reaper let out a sigh.

"Maybe if I get some beef out of this I can make hamburgers, steaks, or some crap like that; anything is better than those tasteless eggs I had to make this morning... and maybe if I get enough money I can-" Ragna tried to shake _that_ thought out of his head, but it still persisted.

 _ **Later -Rebellion's Guild-**_

"Looks like we have ourselves a winner," Lisbeth said as took the axe away from her smith station, the object in question was a large lance which had a crimson red blade on it and black claw-like spikes emerging from the sides. Taking the weapon, she handed it to her customer, a woman who was dressed in black medium grade armor.

"Perfect, I've been trying to get this thing upgraded for forever," the customer said as she opened her menu and sent over the promised payment. "So... any idea where I can find your guild leader?"

"Um... If you were hoping to ask him for a job you can talk to Argo upstairs, I'm sure we can figure something out for you."

"No, I'm looking for Ragna the Bloodedge himself," she said. "I had something I was hoping to give him... a message of sort."

"A... message...?" Liz asked as the woman brushed her crimson red hair to the side. "What kind of message?"

"Well, I think that's between the two of us," the enigmatic woman said as she gave an sultry smile. "Thanks again for the lance, I'm sure I'll put it to good use." ' _Stabbing it through his throat._ '

"Well she was... weird," Liz thought aloud as the woman left. The Blacksmith shook the thought out of her head before heading upstairs to see if anyone else needed any help. Aside from the mysterious woman in black that had just left through the front door. "Slow day?"

"No kidding," Argo muttered from the front desk where she sat, completely absorbed by her boredom. "Almost every day is gonna be like this at first; we don't 'ave enough floors unlocked yet to get to many vary jobs. This early in, most players are gonna to try to get their drops themselves so they can get their reward money."

"In that case, why bother setting up shop?" Lisbeth asked. "I mean I know that I need a place to take care of my smith business, but shouldn't you be out in the fields gathering info?"

"I should, but I already said I'd help Ragna here first," Liz said before sighing. "Things'll be getting much easier once we get some more col. After that happens I can order us a notice board so we can grab our quests easier and hire an NPC to run the front desk so I can work my magic with some info gatherin'."

"Sounds useful, but that's going to take a lot of Col, isn't it?"

"A ton of it, an' that's gonna be hard to git when we're up against some of the top guilds in the game," Argo said with a sigh before a notification popped up. Opening her mail, she read the message and smirked. "Of course, with our ace in the hole we might just be able ta manage; yer boyfriend messaged me to say 'job's complete.'"

"Boyfriend..." Liz repeated with something of a happy blush forming. "It still feels a little weird to hear that, but it not a bad thing." A second pop-up notification then came up, this time appearing in front of her her. "Eh?"

"Aw, did yer hubby send you a little love note?" the minx of an info-broker questioned, leaving Liz's happy blush to deepen with embarrassment.

"I- That's-!"

"Well, don't just stand there," Argo said as she sprang to her feet. "Lemme read it."

"Argo! This is private!" Liz shouted as she tried to keep away from her old roommate. "Argo! Stop it!"

"Come on, we both know Raggy can't possibly make anything romantic," Argo sly reminded as she kept up the chase.

"Well maybe he managed!" Liz shouted as she leaped away.

 _ **-Elsewhere-**_

"So..." Seno of the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ questioned as he crossed his arms. "How far along are they?"

"They're a complete joke," the woman from Lisbeth's shop said with a sigh as she looked at the lance in her hands. "Their blacksmith isn't too bad, but any one of ours would have done a better job." Shrugging, she opened her menu and changed her previous black clothing to a newly acquired set of _Dragoon_ armor for the _Holy Dragon Alliance_. "Trust me, they're nothing close to threatening, especially to us."

"...As much as I'd hate to say it, they do have one of the toughest players in the game on their side," Seno reminded.

"Yes, but there's only so much _he_ could manage to do," the woman said as a hungry expression emerged on her face. "Sooner or later he'll realize that he can't do everything alone... and then I'll bring him down with the rest of his trashy guild."

"At least we agree on one thing, but I'll be the one to kill Ragna the Bloodedge," Seno said as he grabbed out his teleport crystal. "Got it memorized, Rosalia?"

The lance user smirked to herself as the man left. Since she'd just merged _Titan's Hand_ with the _Holy Dragon Alliance_ she hadn't been given a seat of any significant authority, but she was working readily to change that. All she needed was to go on a raid that brought back some decent rewards to the guild and she'd be popular enough with its base of players... maybe enough to take a seat for herself like she'd planned.

 _'I worked too hard to buy this game for it go to waste,'_ she thought to herself as her confident complexion didn't fade. ' _If I'm not enjoying this to the fullest whenever I can, then what am I doing with it? I should call the guys and see if they want to go... hunting...'_

 _ **That Night -Floor Twelve: Town-**_

"...I'm not going to back out on this," Asuna said to herself as she carefully looked over the screen in front of her. What it was showing the young _Lightning Flash_ was her Friend List and the location of one very particular member of it. "It's just like Freya said; if I don't tell him now I'm going to regret it later."

Closing the screen before her, the Second-In-Command of the largest guild of the game headed off into the streets of the town, now confident that she could find who she was looking for. Several other players stared at her as she passed them by, obviously having heard stories of _Lightning Flash Asuna_ and the progress she'd managed to cause in the game as a result. Asuna decidedly ignored any sounds of gossip, her mind completely focused on find her friend.

Taking on final turn around the corner, she saw him standing off to the sides of the street. Ragna was wearing what he usually was (why wouldn't he?) but Asuna noticed that his sword was oddly missing from his weapon's belt. The Reaper had his menu opened and seemed to be skimming through a few settings, but it looked more like he was killing time than anything else. The people around him seemed to taking notice of him and a few even stared for a second or two as they passed by, but no one stopped to talk to him.

' _This is it...'_ Asuna thought to herself as she took a deep breath. She took one last long moment to ready herself mentally before stepping forward and calling out. "Ra-"

"RAGNA!"

This second shout interrupted hers and overpowered it completely. Asuna was left frozen as she watched her pick haired best friend emerge from the crowd and walked up to the man Asuna had been trying to get attention from. The _Lightning Flash_ tried to take a step and make her way forward, but her legs wouldn't move.

"There you are," Ragna said as he closed his menu before turning to his current (and only) girlfriend. "Never responded to my message."

"Just be glad I didn't send the message Argo thought I should give you, you'd look red as a tomato right now," Liz told him, leaving Ragna to slightly cringe for a split second. Liz then tenderly grabbed Ragna's arm and held it against her. "Thanks for inviting me for dinner though, it's been a while since just the two of us ate together."

"You're welcome, but..." Ragna began, his face heating up slightly. "Are... are you really sure it's okay to do something like that in public?"

"Why not? I need to let everyone know that you're off the market now, don't I?" Liz asked, with an innocent smile (though Ragna was currently doubting its innocence). Glancing around him, Ragna saw that there were a few girls that seemed to be shocked or glaring at the two, something that gave the Reaper had the oddest suspicion that they _might_ have been into him, but said nothing.. "Come on Ragna, let's go grab some food."

"Heh, right behind you... well _beside_ you since you won't let go of my arm," the Reaper finished, scratching the back of his head with his free arm while Lisbeth gave a small laugh at her boyfriends dorkier side before the two headed inside the restaurant.

Asuna had been hiding from Ragna's sight when he'd been glancing around the area at the other girls that had been looking at the two. Noticing them talking to each other, Asuna couldn't help but overhear their gossip about how a few girls had thought he'd been a decent catch, how another said Lisbeth looked pretty young in comparison to the Reaper, and of course one had brought up Ragna's earlier 'engagement.'

Staring at the area now and watching as the crowd slowly began to disperse, Asuna remained stand and staring at the restaurant for the longest of moment before sadly smiling to herself and opening her menu.

"Hm?" Ragna hummed to himself as a pop-up notification appeared in front of him making him pause for a moment as his girlfriend placed her order. ' _A message from Asuna?'_ His first thought was to leave it for later, but he figured if he didn't answer it now it'd be bugging him during dinner. He pressed the button to open the message, his complexion completely blank as he read over it.

"Thanks, no need to rush," Lisbeth said happily as the waitress headed off to fill out their orders. Noticing Ragna was reading some form of message and the expressionless face he had as he read it, Liz became concerned. "...What's wrong?"

"Asuna just sent me a message and..." Ragna paused as he let out an exasperated breath before he closed his message before putting on the best smile he could. "...She just sent me her entire Recipe collection."

 _ **END OF CHAPTER: TRANSITION TO POST-CHAPTER OMAKE (Author's Note Afterwards)**_

 _Second Coming_

"Wh-where am I?" Noel Vermilion questioned herself from where she lay in an unfamiliar bed. The young girl's head felt slightly heavy as she slowly lifted her head off of the pillow and studied her surroundings. The entire room was crafted from dark brown wood and there were old fashioned candles that stood unlit, but suggested the place didn't use _Ars Magus_ symbols as a way of lighting itself. There was a glass window off to the side that had its white curtains open, but Noel wasn't at an angle to where she could see out of it. All she knew was that she was still wearing her white top and blue skirt, but her guns seemed to be missing.

At the moment, the door into the room opened with a small creak and Noel held her breath as a familiar adversary walked into the room, acting joyful with a soft hum before she managed to notice Noel's condition with her healthy eye.

"Looks like the sleepy head is finally up," Nu said, seeming much less cheerful.

"... _Bolverk!_ " Noel shouted, hoping to summon her twin hand guns to her hands so she could defend herself from Nu should the Murakumo unit try to attack her, but her guns never arrived.

"Silly, that doesn't work here!" Nu said looking quite pleased with herself. "Besides, you could never hurt Nu while we're still in a safe zone."

"S-safe zone? What are you talking about?" Noel demanded as she tried to stay on her guard.

"Nu doesn't really know, but as long as the two of us stay inside the city we can't get hurt and we can't hurt anyone else!"

"City?" Noel asked as she slowly made her way out of bed, still staying cautious of Nu. Her steps were slightly shaky at first, but eventually she managed to make her way of to the window. Looking outside, she saw an older fashioned fantasy town, though its streets appeared to be oddly barren of any people. "Wh-where are we Nu?"

"Well, I could tell you, but-" The Murakumo was interrupted as the door to Noel's room was opened once more, this time revealing- "RAGNA!"

"Gah! Nu! Get offa me! You saw me half an hour ago for heaven's sake!" the Reaper shouted in annoyance as he managed to force the hyper silver haired girl off of him. Ragna then turned his attention to the standing form of Noel. "So... you're up then Saya?"

"N-Noel," the blonde insisted, still not comfortable with the idea of Ragna calling her the same name of his younger sister. A dozens of thoughts and questions were racing through her mind from when the two had last encountered each other, but she couldn't pick out where to start.

"Whatever," the Reaper muttered. "You were passed out on Floor One when I found you, and you've been asleep for three days."

"What do you mean Floor One?" Noel asked him. Ragna let out a long sigh, a little concerned that she didn't seem to register the passed out part.

"Well, it's a long story..." He then went to detail about telling her about the world crossing he (and presumably, the girls) had gone through before explaining SAO and the death game that it really was.

"Th-that's horrible..." Noel said as he finished his story.

"I know, I'm trying to do what I can to help... which I guess is making a few waves at least. Anyways, I found Nu here about a week ago and she was on Floor One like you were. We're on an empty town on Floor Three, only because I wanted you to wake up before we headed higher up... That and I didn't want people to panic when I carried you around while you were still unconscious."

"I can understand that, but what about Nu?" Noel asked as she turned to the Murakumo unit.

"She's just been hanging onto me ever since I found her really," Ragna admitted. "I don't really have a problem with it and let her do her own thing... just as long as that's not follow me out into the fields; I've had to put a stop to that more than a few times."

"But Ragnaaaaaa!" Nu whined like a child. "All Nu ever does is wait for you to come back anyways! She's so bored."

"I keep telling you it's too dangerous! You don't have your Murakumo armor and neither does Noel now that she's here," the Reaper said as he thought back. "You didn't have your guns either; I guess it's because the fantasy type this game is based on wouldn't allow them."

"That's why I didn't have them," Noel said sounding disappointed. "Wh-what about right now? What am I supposed to do now that I'm awake?"

"Same thing Nu's been doing," Ragna told her, which earned him a pout and glare. "...I just told you, you ain't heading out there and getting yourself killed."

"So I'm supposed to stay here where it's safe?" Noel retorted. "What about the others who are dying?"

"They're my problem, not yours," Ragna told her with a glare of his own. "Besides, what the hell could you even do? You don't have your weapons, you don't know how to work a sword, and you're at level one. You'd sooner end up dead than save anyone."

"I-I know that!" Noel shouted before looking guiltily at the floor. "I just... I just can't sit here and do nothing!" She glared at Ragna something fierce. "Even if you don't stay yes, I'm not going to listen if you're just going to keep me boarded up in here."

"...Tch," Ragna growled. Noel's glare was stronger than he'd remembered it being, maybe because it was his sister's face glaring at him. The Reaper realized that despite the nasty scowl he was sending himself, Noel wasn't budging. "...Fine," he spat, turning his back to her.

"Good..." Noel said before realizing. "Um... what does fine mean here?"

"It means I've got a friend who's got a couple of weapons he doesn't have any use for; at this point in the game they're as good as junk, but I'll bet they can help you get started easily enough."

"Ragna..." Noel said before she threw her arms around his back without realizing it. "Thank you!"

"...Don't thank me idiot," Ragna growled. "And let me go while you're at it."

"O-Oh, right," Noel said with something of a blush.

"Yeah! Nu's the only one that can hug Ragna!" Nu said before she lunged at the Reaper. She hadn't counted on his deft dodge to the left and ended up face planting into the wall behind him. "Meany... Nu's just going to make sure you let her hug you after she helps you so much tomorrow."

" _You're_ coming with us? Yare yare _,_ " Ragna muttered with annoyance. "Fine, but the two of you better get some rest before we head out tomorrow. I'm not taking you along if you can't even stay awake."

"Okay!" Nu cheered chirpily before she lunged at Ragna again, this time the Reaper wasn't fast enough to dodge. "Let's head to bed together then Ragna, we have a lot of work tomorrow!"

" _T-Together!?_ " Noel squeaked, a harsh blush on her face.

"Not happening! You're sleeping in your own damn bed!" Ragna shouted as he fought to push Nu off of him. "And Noel! Get that look off yer face!"

"Aw, she's just jealous," Nu told him as she happily continued to cling to the Reaper. "Come on Ragna, maybe Noel just wants to join us!"

"LIKE HELL!" Ragna shouted.

' _She seems rather... open about what she wants,_ ' Noel thought as she continued to blush and watch Ragna's struggle.

Later, everyone was asleep in a different bed and a different room in the Inn. Nu had readily fallen asleep for the next morning while Noel took a while since she'd been doing nothing but sleep for the last few days. All that remained was Ragna who stared at the ceiling unable to coax himself to rest.

" _So... you're absolutely sure about this?" he'd asked earlier that day._

" _Without a shadow of a doubt," Sanae had told him. "Unlike you, those two still have strong ties to the world their from, especially strong ones in fact... When this game gets cleared, those two will be sent on their way home, most likely without memories of what transpired here... or you."_

" _Good... that's one less thing to worry about," the Reaper had sighed in relief._

"Still that means I'm going to have to put up with both of 'em until we clear this thing...What a pain in the ass..." he muttered in present time before closing his eyes and finally falling to sleep.

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hey guys, as I said before the story began I thought that this would a better chapter to put out now than what I had planned for**_ _ **Rebirth of Azure**_ _ **. I know it doesn't have a lot to do with Christmas (unless you include Noel being born on December 25**_ _ **th**_ _ **), but it still works.**_

 _ **The idea for the level grinding area was... I don't think it was stolen, but I will say it was inspired by a certain game. Ten points to anyone who gets the reference.**_

 _ **Quick clarification, even if Ragna is present in the Omake, all of those (save for the one where he found Yukianesa) are Non-Canon to this story. Ergo, they take place on a different timeline. Some people might try to push for this Omake to join the Canon, but as of this moment I'm keeping the two separated.**_

 _ **Other than that, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Now go and enjoy some Eggnog for me (curse my diet).**_

 _ **Until next time, Ciao!**_


End file.
